Something Scary
by Plagius
Summary: Young and alone Naruto is corrupted Kyuubi's evil influence, becoming the very monster that Minato died to seal away. With the power of the nine tails in his grasp, only one man can save Naruto from his inner demon, the legendary super pervert Jiraiya.
1. Homecoming

**AN**: If there is anyone reading this let me first say that I'm sorry. I've stated before that I'm a brand new writer, and as such I'm still not very good.

As of 4/15/10 I've added some content to this chapter that should be fairly important to the plot, so it's recommended that you scan through it again. You should expect this type of behavior (posting a chapter and then playing touch-up with it) whenever I post a new chapter. Sorry again for the inconvenience, just blame it on me being ADHD.

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Propped against a wall, Jiraiya stared down at the blank white page of his note pad. The toad sage remained that way for few more minutes before he sighed dejectedly and slipped the notes into his vest. It seemed that the muses weren't on his side today.

His mind wandered as he continued to wait in the reception room outside of his sensei's office.

What had been so imperative that it required his immediate attention? And if this issue was so important, why had he been standing outside of the Hokage's office for nearly two hours now? It just didn't make any sense!

Of course, nothing about his unexpected return made any sense.

The old lecher had been lurking around the local hot spring, catching up on his ever important research, when a small orange monkey suddenly poofed into existence on his shoulder. If not for his ninja training, the toad sage may have very well screamed like a little girl. He may have been a veteran ninja, but there was no shame in being startled when primates began popping out of thin air.

The lion tamarin had rolled its eyes at Jiraiya's un-ninja like behavior before handing him a communiqué from the village, then promptly poofing away.

The transcript he'd received had been heavily encoded, and took close to an hour to decipher. Decoded, the message was mockingly concise.

In short, it had read: You are hereby ordered to return to Konoha. We need to talk.

Grudgingly, Jiraiya had followed the Hokage's orders. He began the long trek from lightning country back to the village hidden in the leaves, cursing his sensei as he traveled past numerous hot springs that were open for mixed bathing. That tragic incident aside, however, the rest of his journey had gone by without issue. Only after arriving at Konoha, did he slowly begin to realize that something was wrong.

As the Sannin had wandered through the streets, waving to the familiar faces he saw, he got the distinct impression that the villagers were hiding from something. Their eyes darted back and forth nervously. It was like they were expecting to be attacked or something, and when he'd greeted them, they'd just sent him a startled look before quickly hurrying on their way.

At first Jiraiya had thought nothing of it. Perhaps they were just running late. Yes, that was it! They were all just running a little late that was all. He paused. Every single villager, all at the same time…right. From there, things just got weirder.

As he began to approach the Hokage's tower, a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Leaping across the rooftops in tight formation were no less than twenty ANBU. That had definitely set him on high alert.

But it was only after entering the Hokage's tower that he realized the extent of this strange behavior.

Instead of being swallowed up in the building's typical noisy din, he was instead greeted by silence. Dead silence.

The staff had remained perfectly still when he'd entered the room. It was almost as if any sudden movement would spell instant death for everyone in the room.

Their deer-in-the-headlights phase had only lasted for a few seconds before the room slowly returned to the hectic environment that he remembered it to be, but now the pervert was certain.

Something was horribly wrong.

"Jiraiya-sama." addressed the soft-spoken receptionist from behind her desk.

His head snapped up and he turned to look at woman.

"The Hokage will see you now."

Jiraiya nodded and moved stiffly towards the heavy wooden doors. He pushed them open and was immediately greeted by the face of his old teacher. Or at least he guessed it was his teacher's face.

The man looked terrible!

Gaunt, hollow eyes stared back at him, sad and grey, as though all the laughter had been forcibly ripped out of the old man's life. His mouth appeared to be twisted downward in an eternal scowl that locked the man's pipe securely in place. Small particles of dust and soot had collected on the brim of the Hokage's ceremonial hat, and Jiraiya idly wondered if his teacher had moved at all during his many years of absence. But it that wasn't what shocked him.

What shocked him was the new set of scars that twisted across the old Hokage's face. Four angry purplish lines ran across the length of his face, starting at his jawbone and traveling upward, past his lips, across his nose, and over his right eye until they disappeared underneath his hat. It was almost as if he'd been raked across the face by the claws of an animal. But surely that couldn't have been right.

"What happened to you, old man?" the toad Sannin questioned, a look of concern spreading across his features.

His teacher ignored the question and released a long stream of blue tinged smoke in to the air.

"Please take a seat Jiraiya." The scars on his mouth writhed angrily as he spoke.

The toad Sannin gave his teacher a quizzical look before taking a tentative step forward. Behind him the double doors slammed shut, trapping him in the dimly lit, smoke filled room. He suddenly felt very claustrophobic.

The old Hokage took a long drag on his pipe, saturating even more of the room's dwindling air supply with the sweet scented smoke when he exhaled. Judging by the amount that was hovering above their heads, Jiraiya could safely assume that his sensei had been here for awhile. He just hopped that this wouldn't take to long, he still wasn't very good at sitting still and paying attention. A grin spread across his face. Not unless hot springs were involved.

"Still perverted I see." The old man stated knowingly.

"Maybe."

Both men chuckled at this, slowly tapering off until silence once again permeated the room. At least his sensei still acted the same.

"What's this all about old man? Your letter said something about us needing to…" He trailed off when he noticed the pained look on teacher's face.

Sarutobi gazed through an ash smeared window down at the village. Even now, hoards of ANBU were the only things that could be seen.

"Jiraiya." He began, still looking through the window, "When was the last time you were in the village?"

The younger man flinched at his leader's purely ceremonial question.

He was well aware that old man Sarutobi liked to keep up the appearance of being a harmless washed-up old ninja, even in front of his students it seemed. However this couldn't be further from the truth.

Though he appeared old, his skills were just as sharp, if not sharper, than they'd been when he was in his prime.

Always pushing oneself further was just another aspect of life for a shinobi. _If _you managed to survive long enough to experience the wondrous roller coaster of ghosts of missions past and chronic joint pain that encompassed old age, you were able to do one of two things.

You could either:

A. retire and live out the rest of your life in moderate comfort; becoming forever known as "that old ninja".

Or B. Mold your mind into a weapon scarier than any jutsu; becoming forever known as "_that_ old ninja."

Not even a kill-me-orange wearing, ramen obsessed, moron would fail to notice the path that Sarutobi had decided on.

The Sandaime Hokage was the very definition of a "_that_ old ninja". He was an assassin, a puppet master, a tactical genius who hid himself under the guise of a kindly old man. He could smile at you to your face that morning, later that night order the complete eradication of your entire family, and then hold your hand through the funeral the very next day. The Hokage was a scary old bastard.

There was no way in hell that the old man had forgotten when his student was last in the village. In fact, Jiraiya was fairly certain that Sarutobi still remembered exactly what the Sannin had eaten for lunch after they'd passed his bell test nearly four decades ago.

In any case, the point was moot. His Hokage had asked him a question and like an obedient subordinate he would put aside his personal feelings and answer the question to the best of his ability.

"About four years ago." Jiraiya sighed, "After Minato gave his life to seal the Kyuubi I-I had to leave. The pain of losing my student… it was just too much for me I guess. I withdrew from the village and everything related to it."

The Sannin hung his head in shame "I couldn't even bring myself to take care of my own godson."

The Sandaime turned back to him, unconsciously running his hand across the scars his face.

"Godson." He echoed in a far away voice.

Jiraiya sent him a puzzled look. "You know, Naruto, cute little kid with big blue eyes and whiskers on his cheeks."

His teacher cringed.

This was immediately noticed. "What's wrong? Did the kid do something bad?"

The third's jaw dropped and his pipe clattered noisily to the desk.

The two ninja stared at each other with mirrored expressions of perplexed shock.

Sarutobi recovered first.

"Things have changed while you were away." He stated solemnly as he retrieved a thick manila folder from his desk. He released the seal binding the reports and slipped the document into Jiraiya's hands.

The toad sage opened the folder.

Inside, appeared to be the dossier of a ninja. He began to examine the first page. It read;

Name: Aboki Horo

Gender: Male

Rank: Chunin

Age: 24 (deceased)

Cause of death: Severe lacerations to the thoracic and abdominal area, resulting in massive, irreversible hemorrhaging

His face began to pale when he looked at the photos attached to the report. The ninja in question was laying face up in an alleyway surrounded by a pool of deep crimson liquid. Bits of mangled flesh and gore were plastered to the ally walls along with a liberal amount of kunai and shuriken. Deep claw-like gouges, eerily similar to those that now resided on the third's face, littered the man's legs and torso. The report detailed that the nin had finally died when his chest was ripped open. Massive hemorrhaging was an understatement! Jiraiya didn't even try to locate the deceased ninja's shredded heart, and still managed to find it with relative ease.

Jiraiya had had enough. He may have been a ninja, but there were limits to what even he could stomach. He turned to the next page and his felt his blood run cold.

The next page was practically identical to the first; the only thing that changed was the name of the person on the sheet. His eyes shot down to the bottom of the page.

Age: 10 (deceased)

Cause of death: Blunt force decapitation.

'Blunt force decapitation!?' he thought in disbelief 'what the fuck is that, and why was it used on a ten year old for Kami's sake!?'

He looked at one of the photos and felt the bile rise in his throat.

'Oh… so that's blunt force decapitation.'

For a shinobi, death was something that came with the job. As academy students, they were taught that ninjas played five vital roles. Assassin, mercenary, spy, saboteur and thief. Out of these five duties, two of them were involved directly in act of taking a life. Assassinations, by definition, required that a ninja take the life of their target. Coincidently, the act of being a mercenary entailed the full scale slaughter of an opposing army. Bloody? Of course. Just? Perhaps. Sad? Nearly always. But in the end as long as you got paid, it didn't really matter.

That being said, Jiraiya was an excellent ninja. Even being a semi-competent ninja meant having a lot of innocent blood on your hands. When you were one of the legendary Sannin… let's just say that the silly carefree pervert had more than a few skeletons in his closet. Having fought in both the second and third great ninja wars made him no stranger to blood and death; however the style of execution portrayed in these photos… they just didn't seem possible.

Most of the kills he'd been exposed to were clean, quick, and efficient, exactly the way a veteran ninja was taught to operate. But these kills were entirely different. Flesh had been torn were it should have cut. Lethal strikes were constantly missed a hair's breadth, to perfect in their precision to counted off as lucky hits. In fact, a majority of the reports so far, seemed to indicate that the attacker had prolonged its victim's demise. Allowing them to escape and then hunting them down again, like the whole act was nothing more than a sadistic game of cat and mouse.

Jiraiya turned to the next page and choked when he read the name

"Oh Kami, no…" he whispered.

Name: Hatake Kakashi (Copy-nin)

Gender: Male

Rank: ANBU Capt.

Age: 18 (deceased)

Cause of death: Singular, severe laceration spanning the length of the thoracic cavity, resulting in massive and irreversible hemorrhaging.

A feeling of emptiness swept over him, forcing him to close the docket.

"How?" he asked helplessly. "Kakashi was an ANBU captain. How could he have died?"

His mentor gave him pained look before answering.

"Kakashi died protecting me." He said in a voice heavy with grief. "He threw his body in front of an attack that was meant for me. His sacrifice allowed me to escape with these." The third gestured to his face.

He looked back at Sarutobi weakly.

"What in the hell could have done this?"

The old man's hand began to once again trail over his scars. After a long while he finally answered.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

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**AN: **So what did you think? Is it worth continuing? This is my first story so any feedback would be very helpful.


	2. Godson

**AN:** So here's chapter 2. I feel that this chapter is much better than the previous one and I hope you like it. Remember, I might be screwing around with this chapter after I've posted it and if it messes you up later, I'm sorry.

Reviews are appreciated because I usually can't find my own mistakes.

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Jiraiya's breath caught in his throat, he felt like he was going to throw up.

"Naruto?" He echoed in a broken voice. "My godson?"

The third nodded. Although his outward appearance remained stoic and cool, on the inside he could feel his heart breaking. His student was crying again, and the old man wanted to do nothing more than act like the fatherly figure that his student desperately needed.

He knew he couldn't though. Right now he needed to be the Hokage. He had to be _that_ old ninja … no matter how bad it felt to do so.

"But how?" His student breathed, "He's only four."

The professor ignored his question, a rather annoying habit that the old man had picked up at some point during the Sannin's absence. He calmly refilled his empty pipe with tobacco, another annoying habit that the old Hokage had picked up, lit it, and took in a deep lungful of harmful smoke. Only after several more drags on his pipe, did Sarutobi finally feel inclined to answer his student.

"Let me tell you the whole story."

"As you know, four years ago the Kyuubi attacked Konoha. Its power was beyond anything that we could've possibly imagined. With just a sweep of its tails it could level entire mountain ranges or raise a wall of water capable of swallowing a hidden village. Our ninja fought valiantly against the beast, knowing full well that their deaths would only buy you and Minato a few more seconds to finish the seal."

The Hokage cringed.

"It was a massacre. The demon's unholy power cut through our ranks with an ease that suggested our shinobi were made of wet tissue paper. Its tails swung, killing dozens of men instantly. Our most devastating jutsu only served to agitate the great beast, reducing them to little more than beacons that focused the monster's rage upon the caster. We were helpless, utterly helpless before the unlimited power of the Kitsune. Our only hope was to believe the Yondaime would somehow conjure up a miracle."

"He did, but only after the heaviest of prices. The fourth sacrificed not only his life, but also the life of his newborn son, condemning the babe to a life of loneliness and pain so that the village could survive. It worked. At the cost of his own soul, Minato's seal was able to imprison the mightiest of the Biju inside the weakest of containers. A baby boy."

"It was around this point you left." The Sandaime commented offhandedly.

Jiraiya hung his head.

"Anyway, after you left many things happened at once. In light of your absence and your student's death, the counsel requested that I come out of retirement and once again take up the mantle of Hokage." He gestured to his robes. "As you can clearly see I accepted."

"Being the leader of the village in such a tremulous time was…interesting to say the least. The village was in ruins, morale was low, missions were scarce, and of course Naruto, our baby jinchuuriki, needed a good home."

"With no one around to take care of him," the old man sent a pointed look at the downcast toad sage, "I was forced to send him to an orphanage. Many of the citizens considered Naruto to be the Kyuubi, and during his first year of life my ANBU prevented no less than twenty assassination attempts on his life."

"The young boy developed at an astounding rate, being fully able to walk and talk when he was only eighteen months old. For the villagers, this was proof that Naruto was in fact the nine-tails in disguise, and attempts on his life skyrocketed."

His sensei sighed. "Looking back on it now, I wish I had made just a little bit of time for the boy. He was completely alone in the world, denied any type of positive human interaction because of the demon living inside him. I…" the old ninja trailed off. "I should have been there for him."

A tear fell from younger man's eye. He opened his mouth to proclaim how he was the one at fault, that little boy had been his responsibility, but his teacher quickly motioned for him to remain silent. The Hokage seemed to hesitate before continuing with the story.

"On his second birthday he was attacked by a mob of angry civilians." A look of rage crossed the Sannin's face but the Sandaime didn't appear to have noticed. "He was beaten, badly, before the ANBU guard had finally stepped in and put a stop to the mob. Naruto was unconscious for five days before he finally woke up. After that he was different."

"Only a few weeks later I received another report that he'd been attacked but this time the attack had ended very differently. Out of the twenty people that had attacked him, none had survived. He slaughtered them all. Every single one of them had been killed by a two year old boy."

"At first I couldn't believe what I was reading. How could a boy, who by all rights shouldn't even know what death is, be able to butcher nearly two dozen people that were roughly four times his size? When the ANBU that was guarding him told me what had happened I nearly threw up."

The scared Hokage pulled a document from his desk.

"At roughly 1900 hours the jinchuuriki known as Uzumaki Naruto was assaulted by no less than twenty citizens of the hidden leaf. I was going to intervene when I suddenly noticed something; the boy was laughing as the civilians beat him with pipes and bats. He almost seemed to be taking a perverse pleasure at being struck by blows that would have crippled a normal man, to say nothing of a child. Since boy didn't appear to be in any real danger, I decided to take careful note of the boy's actions. One of the men leaned over and said something inaudible to profusely bleeding yet still laughing child that abruptly silenced him. Killing intent unlike anything I'd ever felt exploded from the boy, slaying a few of the villagers on the spot and bringing the rest to a near catatonic state. Just before I lost consciousness, I was able to make out what appeared to be three flaming tails swinging behind his back. The scene I awoke to can't be aptly described by any words that I know. Pictures are enclosed within however Hokage-sama I strongly advise you not to look at them. End report."

Sarutobi set the paper on his desk and took a long drag from his pipe.

"I looked at those photos." He stated with a slight tremor in his voice. "and Taka was right; I shouldn't have."

The professor shook his head, as if this act would remove the memories clinging to his mind. Slowly, He turned back to Jiraiya.

"Even though his actions went way beyond disturbing, I figured that this might, in fact, be a good thing. Well not exactly good per say… perhaps acceptable would be the more accurate word to use. Yes, I found this to be acceptable. Naruto had only done what he had because he was trying to defend himself. He had to kill those people or else they would've killed him. At least that's what I had originally thought."

"Someone in ANBU leaked what Naruto had done to the general public and then all hell broke loose. The civilian council demanded the boy's head in reparation for the people that he killed. The ninja council demanded that he be turned into a weapon to be used by the village. My advisors told me that I should just leave him in the forest and claim that he'd run away from the village sometime during the night. The general populous railed that he should stand trial for his actions."

The Hokage massages his temples.

"Later that night nearly 150 people, both ninja and civilian, banned together in an attempt to "finish what the Yondaime started" and began to march towards Naruto's apartment. I sent one of my most loyal ANBU to rescue the boy before the angry mob found him." Sarutobi paused. "He was later found inside Naruto's apartment with his head and arms torn off. The angle of the attack suggested that his opponent was only three feet tall."

A dark look spread across the old man's face.

"No one was spared, no one escaped. Six of the ninja in attendance that night were members of ANBU black ops." Again the Hokage paused. "They were fighting a two year old, and the two year old slaughtered them like animals."

"After that nobody ever tried to kill Naruto again. But as the months went on, people were still turning up dead. It was obvious that our little jinchuuriki was the killer. Only he would be able to achieve the necessary amount of carnage in order to replicate these kills."

"I summoned him to the tower in order to question him about these murders. When I asked him if he knew anything about it, he laughed hysterically, saying "of course I know about the murders you silly old ninja! I did them!" Naturally, this shocked me. I knew that Naruto was most likely behind the murders, but to hear a three year old boy proclaim in such a proud voice that he'd been mercilessly killing people for the past year was just…"

The Sandaime trailed off.

"I asked him why he'd been killing so many people. To this he'd happily replied "the big fox told me that I needed to eat better." Now I was floored. How was I supposed to act after finding out that the murderer who roamed the streets of Konoha was actually a psychotic cannibalistic child. I wanted to arrest him but I knew that would only provoke the boy's wrath. I'm fairly confident if combat between me and the little jinchuuriki ensued, the resulting battle would've cost far more lives than simply allowing him to continue feeding. I let him go, telling him that he would be arrested if he was caught doing this again. He just smiled brightly and promised to stop.

"The killings persisted."

"For the next year, the village simply tried to pretend that the murders and Naruto didn't exist. People went out of their way to avoid him, hoping that he would allow them to live if they simply left him in peace. Only afterwards did we realize that isolating him was probably the worst thing we could've done."

"They say hindsight is 20/20. _They_ are very wise. In an effort to appease the beast, we forgot one very important detail. It had two faces. It was the Kitsune, lord and master of Biju, the greatest of the nine, the embodiment of power and hatred, but it was also Naruto, a scared and lonely little boy wondering why people ran in terror at the sight of him. In effect, we left an unstable little boy all alone with only a malevolent, trickster fox for companionship."

"The demon twisted his mind, poisoning him with whispered lies and promises of happiness. Over the next year the two personas merged, the end result being a cruel, hateful, incredibly dangerous creature that lived for, and loved only, itself."

"His next birthday marked the darkest day in Konoha's history following the Kyuubi's initial attack four years ago. The village was holding a service of remembrance in the local temple for the thousands that had died when nine-tails attacked. I was leading a prayer when a massive wave of killing intent was suddenly leveled on the crowd."

"Naruto was there."

The Hokage shivered, his hand unintentionally moving to stroke his scars.

"The rage burning in his eyes was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. He was furious that _his_ villagers would rejoice in the demon's defeat, mocking the creature that he considered to be his closest friend. He attacked. The demon had given him claws and fangs sharper than any blade and the civilians around him were quickly cut down. Behind it, four flaming tails lashed out like wrecking balls, crushing any that managed to slip past him. The shinobi tried to drive the beast back but it was far too strong."

"In short, we were massacred."

"Whether by conscious decision or sheer dumb luck, the beast had managed to catch us when we were weakest. Using the demon's chakra had had a crippling effect on the people's moral. The situation was entirely too similar to one four years ago. Many veteran ninja panicked and ran when they saw that they would once again have to face the monster that haunted their nightmares."

"It had attacked in a crowded area and because it was so small, the ninja couldn't the demon until it was too late. Engaging the beast at long range, as well as using our most powerful techniques was impossible. It used the crowd as shield, forcing our ninja to be careful so that they didn't accidentally kill a civilian by mistake. The demon had no such constraint, quite the opposite really. With every sweep of its claws it managed to bring down another batch of people. It barely even had to work at it."

"Amidst the chaos, the beast must have managed to work its way to front crowd, because the next thing I knew was that I was being thrown to the side by Kakashi."

The Hokage's voice began to tremble with rage.

"It killed him. That thing gutted one of my best ninja!" The enraged Sandaime slammed his fists on the desk. "He was laughing when he did it!"

Jiraiya remained silent.

"We fought, and just like I'd predicted the year before, it was a bloodbath. The little bastard lured me into the crowd and then ambushed me in the confusion. That's when he gave me these." The old man growled tapping his scars with the stem of his pipe.

"He maneuvered me into situations that forced me to kill my subjects in order to dodge his attacks. At one point I was forced to cut through a little girl in order to deflect a lethal strike aimed at my heart. The look of fear and pain on her face as her beloved Hokage-_sama_," Sarutobi snarled "was forced to stab her in order to prolong his own wretched life is something that will be forever burned into my mind."

"After nearly half an hour me, as well as several Uchiha's were able to bring the creature down. The Uchiha were able to use their sharingans partially suppress the shield of demonic chakra long enough for me to plunge a Kunai into Naruto's head."

The toad hermit flinched at this, but his teacher took no notice

"The wound healed almost instantly. A Hyuuga was brought to the boy, and his vital signs were confirmed. Somehow the boy was still alive. With out ceremony an ANBU cut off his head, and we watched in mute horror as it reattached itself his neck. No matter what we tried, the thing wouldn't die! The only thing we could do was suppress his chakra and pray that he doesn't wake up until we figure out how to kill him.

"At this moment, Naruto is in a cell deep beneath the tower. We covered him with so many chakra suppression seals that he should've remained in a comatose state for the rest of his life; instead he began to wake up yesterday."

"This is why I've called you back."

The old man let this sink in.

Tears began to run down the Sannin's painted cheeks. How could this have happened!? He'd promised Minato that he would be there for his son; Promised that he would protect the thing that his student had treasured more than life itself. But he didn't.

He lied.

He ran away from his problems like a coward, breaking his final promise to a dying man because he was too sad and afraid to do his duty. Now look at what His failures had wrought! The copy-nin was gone, his godson was _eating_ people, the whole of Konoha lived in fear, and thousands of innocent people were dead! All of this could've been avoided if he'd simply been a little stronger.

"This is my fault." he whispered

"You're right, it is!" Sarutobi spat, his voice like acid.

Jiraiya recoiled at the venomous words.

"The boy was your responsibility and yet you did nothing! You were the one who abandoned him! You were the one who left him in darkness! You were the one who wasn't there when he needed you the most!"

The Sannin wished for death at this point.

"But," the Hokage sighed, "You were the one who came back for him. You can't give into despair just yet Jiraiya; your godson still needs you."

The toad sage's head shot up. "W-what do you mean?"

The anger vanished from Sarutobi's face and was replaced with _that_ look, the keen calculating smirk that meant you were now dealing with _that_ old ninja.

"Who was there for him when Naruto was all alone?"

Jiraiya's head began to bow again. "No one."

"Your wrong." The old man simply stated. "Now answer the question, Who was there for him when Naruto was all alone?"

The Sannin's eyes widened. "The Kyuubi."

"Correct. Now, what does Naruto love more than anything else?"

"The Kyuubi." He repeated.

"Correct again. My my my, you're getting rather good at this."

Jiraiya frowned but of course, it was ignored.

"Final question. Who sealed the Kyuubi into Naruto?"

"Minato."

His sensei shook his head.

"…and me!"

The old man grinned. "Exactly."

He pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to his student. "I am assigning you an S-rank mission. It involves taking Naruto out of Konoha until you deem him fit to re-enter society at large. While in the field, you are to humanize him as well as train him in the ninja arts. Should you succeed; the village of the hidden leaf will be in control of the most powerful shinobi to ever live, stronger even than the yellow flash. Should you fail; you will most likely be torn apart and eaten, and Konoha will loose yet another ninja to the Kyuubi's talons."

A small smile crossed the Sannin's face as his teacher finished drawing up the paper work. "Thank you sensei. I'm so sorry for everything."

Sarutobi filed the paper work away and turned to look at his pupil. "You created a hell of a mess when you left Jiraiya. Now you're going to fix it."

With that he stood up and walked over to Jiraiya. "There are seals on the prison to prevent anyone other than me from shunshining inside. Hold on tight."

Jiraiya took hold of the older man's arm and the two vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Both men reappeared in dark room, the only source of light being a few flickering candles. In the darkness the toad Sannin could vaguely make out the shape of a cross suspended nearly fifty feet in the air by thick steel chains. There was a figure shackled to the cross that appeared to be either sleeping or unconscious.

"Wake up Naruto!" the Hokage called out. "I have someone I want you to meet!"

Two orbs of ruby light flared into existence, the ambient light from them casting a hellish glare on the young boy's grinning face.

"Sarutobi!" A happy childish voice replied. His grin became psychotic and the light from his eyes intensified. The guttural voice he spoke in next radiated hatred and power.

"**Are we going to play again old man?**"


	3. Ninja

**AN**: Thank you to everyone who reviewed (epically RikodouSennin). This Single-handedly made my day and inspired me to write another chapter(instead of doing my calculus homework). Like always, expect me to mess with it. Reveiws are appreciated.

* * *

The silence was deafening. For a long time both parties remained unspeaking, they simply studied each other. Jiraiya's eyes hardened when they locked with the glowing pinpricks of scarlet light. This monster was not his godson.

_They_ say that the eyes are the windows to the soul. His teacher was right, _they_ are very wise. The toad sage could see many things within the creature's eyes, its hatred, its power, and above all else, its inextinguishable rage. It may have worn the mask of a cute innocent child, but that was all it was, a mask. Those maelstroms of molten crimson crushed the last kernel of doubt in the Sannin's mind. This was the Kyuubi.

The stillness was broken by saccharine voice of the demon.

"Sarutobi…" he whined, "when are you gonna let me down? I promise I'll be a good boy."

The Hokage's stern visage remained unchanged.

"C'mooon old man, let me down." The boy pleaded mockingly. "It's sooo boring up here, and besides," the maniacal grin returned. "I'm feeling a little… **hungry**."

The boy erupted into insane laughter at this comment, as though he'd just told the funniest joke in the world. His laughter was abruptly cut off by a startled gurgle and something warm and wet began to leak from his still open mouth.

Jiraiya glanced nonchalantly to the side, taking note of his sensei's still extended arm. The old man let it fall to his side before calmly addressing the temporarily muzzled demon child.

"I have 499 more kunai sealed into the sleeves of my robe, demon." The Hokage idly commented as he retrieved another blade. "We can do this all day long if you wish."

The jinchuuriki wheezed something indistinct around the kunai in his mouth.

"I beg your pardon?" Sarutobi cupped a hand to his ear.

A sound of spitting was heard, followed shortly thereafter by the clatter of steel on stone. This time the voice was neither childish nor demonic, it was composed and amused. "I said, you say you want to talk, but then you go around throwing knives in my mouth. Seems kind of backwards to me. Perhaps this is a negotiating technique that all Kages use. Human politics is fascinat-ack!" his prattle was cut off by yet another throwing knife.

"498." The Sandaime deadpanned, drawing another kunai.

"Can I try?" the third's student asked in a detached manner.

Sarutobi smirked at this. At least now the toad sage understood what this thing was. "We need it to like you Jiraiya."

The Sannin was about to reply when a clang echoed through the room, signifying that the boy could speak once again. Although it only shot the old man an irate look, the fire in its eyes indicated that the beast was seething. Again the child stared at them.

"What did you want to talk about." He gritted out through clenched teeth.

The Hokage smiled. "I wanted you to meet someone. Naruto this is Jiraiya, your godfather."

The other man wished his teacher hadn't done that. Even though the little jinchuuriki was incapacitated for the moment, very soon he would have to take the boy out into the field and believe it or not, Jiraiya didn't feel like being eaten by his student's son. He waited for the boy to explode at him. Nothing happened.

The vermilion discs blinked in confusion. "Aaaand…?"

He could almost picture the young boy motioning for his sensei to continue. The _that_ old ninja look crossed his mentor's face and he had to stifle a groan. 'Manipulative old bastard.'

"Naruto. How do you feel about your godfather?"

The orbs narrowed in confusion before widening in what appeared to be horror. "He's a bad bad man who left me all alone with only a demon-gak! Sung gov ah bith!"

"497."

A kunai pinged to the floor. "I don't care about him one way or the other. Ask me how I feel about you old man."

The Sandaime disregard the last part and continued to question the child.

"Why don't you hate him for what he did?"

Jiraiya shot his teacher a look. Was the old man trying to get him killed or something!?

"What are you talking about old man?" the demon vessel sounded genuinely confused. His eyes flicked towards his godfather, "that guy never did anything to me; in fact I've never seen him before in my life.

"Does it make you angry that he's a bad bad man who left you all alone with only a demon for companionship?"

"Of course not. If he was around more, I probably would have never met the Kyuubi."

The old man's smirk broadened. "So would you kill him if you were presented with the opportunity to do so?"

The Sannin threw his hands up in air in disbelief. The old man _was_ trying to kill him.

Soft laughter floated through the darkness. "It seems like your companion would rather you not speak about him Sarutobi. Perhaps I would or perhaps I wouldn't, though I can safely say he wouldn't be my first choice. No, that honor is all yours old man." His eyes turned to Jiraiya, "You, J-something, if you get me down I'll kill the old guy for you."

A Kunai whizzed through the air, stopping with an abrupt click. "Hehe, cot ih dis time ya stupid-ow! Damn it!" a second kunai sailed into his neck, causing the one clenched in his teeth to fall to the ground. "What the hell do I look like to you, a dartboard!?"

"Most dartboards I've encountered aren't this annoying." The third replied as he readied another kunai. His student's hand caught his wrist in mid-throw.

"Don't piss him off." The hermit advised. "It'll just draw out the demon's chakra quicker."

Sarutobi gave the man a slight nod and lowered the knife. A metallic chime relayed that yet anther kunai had been removed from the restrained jinchuuriki.

"Y'know J-something, I'm starting to like you more and more…" he trailed off. "Why'd you come back? If it you brought me a present for my birthday, you can still give it to me now."

J-something gave his godson a flat look.

"No present eh? Cheap bastard." Sarutobi's hand inched towards his kunai and the child growled. "So why are you here? What does the old schemer want out of you? Are you gonna be the one to kill me? Are you gonna shower me with love and affection until I find the inner goodness buried within my tortured heart? Perhaps you're just here to check up on your demon spawn godson and be done with it? Whatever your reason for being here, it makes no difference to me. As soon as these seals give out I'm gonna show you, the old man, and the entire village just how scary I can be." Wisps of crimson chakra began to leak out of the overtaxed suppression seals. A wicked sneer formed on Naruto's face.

"**Believe it**."

The instant that the demonic energy began to waft from the seals, the Hokage began to weave hand seals. He'd nearly finished when Jiraiya's hand unexpectedly lashed out and clamped around his hands, canceling the nearly complete jutsu. The old man sent his student a frantic look; he was going to get both of them killed! However the Sandaime's anxiety evaporated when he saw the hard look in the Sannin's eyes.

He let go of his sensei's hands and began to walk towards his enraged godson, fearless in the presence of the Biju's wrath. He came to a stop before the boy, visibly trembling as waves of killing intent began to descend on him. The sage steeled himself, what he was about to do would either save his life, or get him killed.

"You're wrong."

Naruto looked at him, fangs bared and tiny muscles straining at the manacles that prevented him from killing his prey. What the man said next stopped his movements dead.

"I'm here to kill with you."

Nobody moved. Sarutobi barely even breathed. He hoped his student had a plan, because if he didn't this was going to get very messy very quickly.

The child's snarl morphed into a grin, the bloodlust shining clearly in his glowing eyes. "Good." He purred darkly. "Get me down from here so I can kill the old man."

"Why?"

Naruto looked at him like he was insane. He opened his mouth to speak but was instantly cut off by his godfather.

"I mean beside the fact that you hate him. That doesn't really mean much because you hate everyone." The sage chuckled softly.

The blonde replied without hesitating, "Because he's strong…strong enough to best me. I have to kill him. Killing him will validate my existence."

The Sannin laughed at the jinchuuriki's response and gestured to the third Hokage. "Him!?" he snickered before once again breaking down into laughter. "You can't be serious! Look at him; he's like, 95. Why on earth would you possibly want to fight a washed up old ninja like him? What pride is there in killing a sickly old man?"

Sarutobi winced. That was probably payback for the "do you want to kill him" question.

The boy seemed to ponder his godfather's words and he came to the grudging realization that he was right. The old man was powerful, no question about that, but he'd been inactive for nearly twenty years, dulling his skills and slowing his reflexes. What pride was there in killing a sickly old man? More like, what fun was there in killing a sickly old man. Naruto focused his gaze on the Hokage. Even in the dim light he could clearly make out the jagged lines that ran the length of the man's face. He'd already managed to hit him once, it wasn't even that difficult. The jinchuuriki was snapped out of his musings by the toad Sannin's voice.

"Do you see what I'm getting at kid? The Sandaime is strong, but he's far from being the biggest fish in the sea. Hell, I bet I could probably teach him a thing or two."

The demon boy shifted his gaze to Jiraiya. "You!?" he spat. "How can you possibly be stronger than him!? He's the Hokage! I've never even heard of you!"

Jiraiya held up his hands in a defensive gesture. "Easy easy Naruto. I can assure you that I'm a very competent ninja." The blond raised an eyebrow at the man below him. "C'mooon." The toad sage grinned. "I did a good enough job at sealing the fox in you didn't I?"

The boy eyes shot up in surprise. "You? You're the one who sealed the Kyuubi inside me." Jiraiya nodded. A wide range of emotions flew across the boy's face. Confusion, disbelief, contemplation, exasperation, and finally something very human.

Gratitude.

He was quiet for a long while. The two simply looked at each other. This man saved him, saved him from the loneliness. He'd left him alone, but had given him his dearest friend before he went. He wasn't there to protect him when he'd needed it but that didn't matter because he'd given him the power necessary to protect himself. This man had given him the greatest treasure in the world; a nine-tailed guardian angel.

The boy shut his eyes and uttered something that he'd never said before.

"Thank you…"

His godfather smiled softly but said nothing, figuring that it was better to remain silent than risk saying something stupid and invoke the demon's temper. For a long while neither party spoke, the two ninja opting to simply bask in their good fortune for the time being. With any luck, the god who was smiling down on them would continue to do so.

It was Naruto who broke the peaceful atmosphere. "Did you mean it? Did you mean what you said about killing with me?"

The Sannin gave him a serious look. "That depends, are you going to continue attacking innocents?"

The boy snarled and his eyes began to blaze, it seemed that Jiraiya's luck had run out. "That depends!" he roared back "Are they going to continue disrespecting me!?"

A very Kyuubi-like grin spread across the hermit's face. "Kid when I'm done with you, _nobody's_ going to disrespect you,"

Naruto mimicked the look on his godfather's face until something dawned on him.

"What do you mean by; when I'm done with you?" the jinchuuriki asked in a guarded voice.

'_Fuck. It's ok though. It's just like lying my way out of a bath house, only instead of getting beaten by half-naked women, your head gets torn off. No pressure super pervert_.'

"I'm going to train you to be a ninja of course."

'_IDIOT!!!_'

The young boy looked murderous. Red chakra began to whip around his body and the wooden structure holding him aloft was beginning to splinter.

"Listen to what I'm saying!" the sage roared over the din that the chakra storm created.

The whirlwind of demonic energy lessened only slightly. "I won't become a puppet for the village!" he roared. "I won't let them control me!"

The Sannin leapt to the boy, and the cross creaked dangerously under strain of his weight. He got nose to nose with the furious child, an act that caused the corruptive energy to burn the skin on his face. A look of surprise crossed Naruto's face, watching in awe as the older man apparently tried to kill himself.

"Petulant child; look at yourself! You think yourself all powerful because of the demon caged within you, you fool! You rant and rave about honoring the Kyuubi's desires, about the amount of respect you have for the Kitsune, but when I offer you the power and death that being a ninja can bring, you throw it back in my face and claim that you won't be a puppet for the village! Look around you! Look at where you are! You're already a slave to the village but you're so blinded by your hatred that you can't even see it!"

Blood began to pour from Jiraiya's mouth due to the extended exposure to the nine-tail's chakra. He spat the coppery liquid to the ground and continued to yell. "You're a demon! I'm a ninja! When you murder nearly a thousand people in cold blood they lock you in here! When _I_ murder nearly a thousand people in cold blood they give me a fuckin' medal and tell me to do it again!!"

The man coughed, causing more blood to fly from his mouth. Still he persisted. "The nine-tails had its pride, but it wasn't insufferable like yours! At least it wasn't deaf to reason! You refuse to become a ninja on principle! Refuse your most logical option because of your deplorable pride! Wake up kid, the fox is a ninja! It kills, it tricks, it manipulates, it steals, and it destroys; _that_ is what a ninja truly is, and _that_ is what you're throwing away!

The tornado of ruby mist began to dissipate leaving a barley conscious toad Sannin forehead to forehead with the most dangerous creature to ever walk the streets of Konoha. The Sannin leaned back dizzily and poked his forehead. "What's it going to be kid?"

The young boy gaped like a fish at his godfather's words. Everything that the man said had been true! He was about to speak when a sudden resounding crack was heard. His restraints gave way and he and Jiraiya fell to the floor amidst a cascade of timbers.

From his place at the opposite side of the cell, Sarutobi shot forward, the amount of speed he was displaying would have been surprising for a shinobi half his age. He crossed the room in the blink of an eye, standing his ground before the small boy that was kneeling over his unmoving student.

Naruto looked up at the Sandaime, uncertainty clear on his face. "Is he right old man, am I being an idiot?"

Only years of experience kept the old ninja's guard from dropping. As much as Sarutobi hated the creature, at the moment he couldn't bring himself to look past the beast's childish disguise.

"I can't answer that." he simply stated. "You wouldn't listen to me anyway."

The demon stared intently at his godfather's peaceful face, as though if he stared at it long enough he would find his answer. Part of him still wanted to kill the old man for the things he'd said about the fox, while another part of him wanted to thank the man for his insights about the demon. Simply put, Naruto was conflicted.

The Sannin's words echoed in his mind. '_You're a demon! I'm a ninja! When you murder nearly a thousand people in cold blood they lock you in here! When I murder nearly a thousand people in cold blood they give me a fuckin' medal and tell me to do it again!!_'

The blonde's head snapped up and he looked to the old ninja. "Do you think that you'd die if we fought again?"

Sarutobi was about to do something that he had never done before and would never do again; admit weakness. "Yes I would probably die. Your godfather was right when he said that there was no pride in fighting me. The only reason I was able to last as long as I did before was because I had allies that could suppress your chakra shield. In a fair fight you would win."

For a long time the boy sat over an unmoving Jiraiya, going over what the Hokage had said. If the even the Hokage was no match for him, who was going to fight? However, if he was able to do the impossible, swallow his pride, and become a… ninja, then perhaps he would be able to find an opponent worthy of his claws. Or maybe, a grin spread across his face at the new thought, maybe there would be a war! When he thought about it like that, being a ninja didn't seem so bad.

Naruto looked up at Sarutobi. "I am not your puppet old man, and I will _not_ address you as Hokage-sama! If you ever forget this I'll cut you down without hesitation. Konoha is the one on the short leash around here; not me."

A barely visible _that_ old ninja smirk pulled at the edge of his lip. He trained his features before the boy noticed. "That is fine Naruto. As long as you only kill the enemy, I believe we will be able to get along just fine."

The boy looked away from the stoic features of the old man and ground his teeth in rage '_I'm not submitting! I'm doing what the fox would want! I'm going to kill people and no one will care! I will find someone worthy of facing me! I will validate my existence!_'

A mischievous smirk crossed his features. '_And after I'm done with this place, I can always burn it to the ground_.'

The old man crouched in front of the boy and spoke to him in a voice that suggested he had a knife to his throat. "Naruto, to get us out of here I'm going to have to touch you. If you kill me, you will never be able to escape. Now, may I touch you Naruto?"

The child once again grit his teeth in anger. "Do it."

Although the jinchuuriki bristled under Sarutobi's touch, he didn't attack. No matter how much he wanted to.

The three disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

XXXXXXXXX

Nearly three days later Jiraiya awoke to a repetitive beeping noise. He squinted against the harsh light and slowly turned his head towards the sound of breathing in front of him.

His sensei stared back at him, pipe in hand.

"If this is heaven I'm going to be very pissed off." He proclaimed in voice that implied there was no room for argument. "I've been awake for nearly ten seconds now and not a single naked woman has fallen from the sky."

The Hokage breathed out another stream of smoke before responding. "I would tend to agree with you on that. Very disappointing." A small smile played at his lips.

The Sannin reflected his mentor's look. "You shouldn't smoke in the hospital." He chided.

"You shouldn't head-butt demons." The older man replied.

Jiraiya chuckled softly. "Speaking of which, where is the little bastard anyway?"

Sarutobi smirked. "He's at the local penitentiary, eating the inmates on death row."

His student laughed, slowly allowing his eyes to slide shut.

"Jiraiya."

Said man looked up.

"How did you know all of those things you told Naruto about the fox?"

The toad sage snickered. "I figured that I was going to die anyway, so at that point I was just pulling things out of my ass." And with that, the injured man fell asleep.

The Hokage stared at the unconscious man with eyes as wide as dinner plates. The pipe slid from his gaping jaw and clattered to the floor.

"Son of a bitch."


	4. Progress

**AN**: Unless this chapter gets a ridiculous number of hits/reviews/favorites, don't expect me to update for a little while. Calculus homework came back with reinforcements and bit me on the ass. I liked how this chapter turned out and I hope you do too. It's rather long(for me anyway) because I condensed two short chapters into one big one. I just really felt the need to finish Naruto's training quickly.

Reviews are always appreciated.

* * *

The relationship that grew between the pair in those first few months was interesting to say the very least. Though the Sannin was stronger, smarter, faster, and had nearly four decades more experience than the boy did, there was no question that Naruto was the position of dominance for the duration of their trip.

The simple fact of the matter was that the child had access to the most powerful, and probably the most intelligent, being ever to roam the earth. Being a shinobi for forty years was almost unheard of. Considering that the life expectancy of a normal ninja averaged somewhere between ten and fifteen years, forty years of service was nothing short of miraculous. However, this feat was laughable when compared with the eons that the Kitsune had been alive for.

If Sarutobi, a mortal man, was capable of becoming _that_ old ninja in only sixty years, then what did that make the fox?

The demon had lived for countless millennia. It had seen the ancestors of man. It watched them change from cave dwelling beasts into sentient life forms. It watched as they began to use tools, watched as they began to climb the food chain, watched as they reached the top of that chain, and watched as they, again, began to change. It saw empires rise and fall. It saw times of great war and times of great peace. Times of progression and times of regression. It had watched them discover and invent. Watched when they created giant steel birds that could traverse the stars and watched when they created staffs of iron that spit fire and thunder at their enemies. It watched as they destroyed themselves; watched unflinchingly as the world was obliterated by rays of light that rained down from the heavens. And then it watched as the little cave beasts crawled from the muck once again.

Comparing _that_ old ninja or the toad sage to _that_ old demon was like comparing a candle to the sun, and the Sannin was quickly discovering that the line between the prisoner and the jailor was practically nonexistent. For all intensive purposes, Naruto was the Kyuubi; the boy just hadn't fully unlocked the demon's power yet. In reality, he only had a fraction of its power and knowledge, and the boy knew it.

It angered him greatly.

He may have looked young, but that didn't equate to him being naïve. Naruto hadn't been tricked by the crazy old hermit into thinking the fox was a ninja. The very idea was insane! But still, he would go along with it. He'd play the part of the reluctant, yet obedient, puppet demon until he no longer had any need for the village. Then, and only then, would he show them the heavy price to be paid for daring to dishonor the nine-tailed king.

That was the real reason why he'd grudgingly accepted his godfather's offer to train him as a shinobi. He wanted, no, _needed_ to become strong so that he could bring honor to the Kyuubi's name. Even if that meant becoming a ninja.

And so, for the first year of his godson's training, Jiraiya was forced to walk a razor's edge lest he anger the beast. Although the boy had agreed to become a ninja, he never said anything about his teacher still being alive when the training was finished. He fought the Sannin fang and talon to avoid learning even the academy basics.

XXXXXX

After walking traveling for a week through Fire County, Naruto was ready to choke the proverbial bitch. The boy had already learned several things in short time away from the village. None of them were useful. One such tidbit was that, surprise surprise, the village hidden in the leaves was in fact surrounded by forests. Shocking. These forests that lined the road were pretty to look at…for maybe the first three hours. So after the first three _days_ of traveling this way, the demon vessel was beginning to give serious consideration towards making Fire Country live up to its name.

Another thing that the boy had learned was that he and his sensei shared absolutely nothing in common.

"So what do you think of toads?" The older man wiggled his eyebrows deviously.

'_Why_ _the hell is he asking me this?_'

"Toads are kind of weird." Replied the confused jinchuuriki.

His teacher's shoulders sagged. "Oh."

After about five more minutes.

"You want to go hunting with me?" Naruto grinned as he pointed to a small furry thing scuttling up a tree. "I'll give you some even if I'm the one who catches it."

Jiraiya rummaged through his pack, pulling out a small plastic bag. "I've got some jerky if you're hungry."

The boy stared at the plastic bag for a few seconds before sighing. "No that's fine."

The rest of the day passed in silence. Wonderfully, infuriating silence. As did the next day. And the day after that. The worst part about this was that the back of the toad Sannin's vest was even more boring than the endless sea of trees. Today marked the one week anniversary of the pair's leave; it too passed in silence. Hence the choking of the proverbial bitch.

Naruto slowly extended his talons.

"Naruto."

"What?"

"I'm sensing that you're getting bored."

"Yes. That would be a fairly accurate description of how I feel right now."

A faint click announced that the boy's claws had locked into place.

"How about I show you some of the basics?"

"That sounds very pleasant."

His sensei turned to him. "Can you put your claws away?"

"Yes."

Nothing happened.

Jiraiya groaned in annoyance. "_Will_ you put your claws away?"

"…Yes."

With a sharp click his claws retracted and the hermit relaxed his posture. They began to move into the forest, coming to an abrupt, and seemingly random, stop a short time later. To Naruto, this place didn't look like anything special. They just stood a few hundred feet away from the road, surrounded on all sides by trees. The sage turned back to the budding ninja. "Ok, let's begin with basic taijutsu and then after awhile we can move on to the proper way to throw kunai and shuriken. Maybe after a few months I can begin to teach you a few low level ninjutsu." Jiraiya turned to his protégé and smiled. "Any questions?"

"After a few months!?" A wide eyed Naruto shouted.

"Of course." The Sannin simply replied. "How long did you think it took, a few hours?"

The only sound that answered him was a loud metallic click.

The hermit eyed the razor sharp claws that were now pointed in his direction.

'_Huh. I guess the old man was trying to kill me.'_

XXXXXXX

Believe it or not, the little demon child didn't succeed in the task of killing his godfather. Ironically, it was the man's perversion that saved him, and not his skills as a legendary Sannin. Years of peeping on spas and bath houses in order to gather research, had caused the super pervert to develop a wide array of stealth related skills. When the angry jinchuuriki had attacked him, he'd used kawarimi to get out of the boy's striking distance and then used a doton jutsu to hide underground until Naruto got bored.

After the boy had had a day to cool off, the toad sage tried once again to teach the boy the basics. In short he was awful. Not a single shuriken had managed to hit anywhere near the target tree and more than half of the kunai thrown had ended up striking back-end first, causing little or no damage to the tree. At least they started out being ineffective. As the boy grew angrier and angrier, the butt of the kunai wound up being more lethal then the blade. The first time Naruto had used red chakra to enhance his throw, the tree had been blown completely in half. Along with the next thirty trees behind it. For the boy's godfather it was both horrifying and comical. Horrifying that the boy would work himself up to the point where he'd use the Kyuubi's chakra over a simple training exercise, and comical because, in spite of all the damage he'd caused, the boy had still managed to miss the target tree.

His sensei had stepped in and stopped the exercise when the demonic energy began to take the shape of a fox around the boy. The Sannin hoped that the simple act wouldn't offend the jinchuuriki to the point where it would push Naruto into the one-tailed transformation. To his great surprise and relief the boy had stopped hurling the steel projectiles. When he saw Naruto's face his eyes widened in surprise, however the man quickly schooled his features, not wanting to evoke the demon's wrath. The expression he'd seen on the boy's face was what had shocked him so much. His student was sad.

For a normal student, this kind of thing happened often. They would fail, become mad, become discouraged, and ultimately would try again. But that was just it, Naruto wasn't a normal student. Jiraiya often had to remind himself that he was training a young demon on this trip, not a young boy, even though the two were practically indistinguishable. At least that was what the sage had originally thought.

In spite of all the boy's boasting and preening, in spite of the fact that he could kill his sensei at a moments notice, and in spite of the horrific body count hanging over his head, part of Naruto was still a four year old boy. He was dangerous and hateful, but at heart he was just a child.

So Jiraiya had tried to comfort the boy, saying that nobody ever started out good and that he'd been even worse when he was first learning to throw kunai and shuriken. The hermit had been rewarded for his efforts by the boy's razor sharp talons tearing across his face.

His student was livid that the man would even _think_ of talking down to him. The little jinchuuriki made it very clear that it he was ever disrespected like this again, the toad Sannin would die. His teacher was only able to nod, due to the bandages that he was pressing against his cheek. As the boy walked off into the forest his godfather smirked under the gauze. If anyone else had made such an error, they would have been decapitated.

For some reason, he was special.

However, the Sannin knew that the boy would make good on his promise to kill him if he ever slipped up like that again. So they continued to travel, stopping to train when Naruto began to get bored, violent, or at the worst of times, both.

Jiraiya had begun to train him in taijutsu, a notion that seemed inherently suicidal considering that the words "non-lethal" and "friendly spar" meant absolutely to the sadistic Jinchuuriki. This was promptly remedied by the ever useful shadow clone technique. However, the clones were quickly destroyed, and the friendly training spars quickly evolved into life or death combat between the sage and his pupil.

The pair had nearly killed each other dozens of times within the first year of the training. At one point, the toad Sannin hadn't been fast enough to totally avoid his student's claws, resulting in his jugular vein being torn open. Somehow he'd managed to cauterize the wound, buying him enough time to reach a town that was a few hours away. Again the boy had surprised him. Jiraiya had been absolutely sure that his godson would go for the kill, but thankfully the boy had done nothing. He simply said, "I'll wait here for two weeks. If you don't return by then I'll assume that you died. Better hurry too, you don't look to good."

Of course similar things had happened to the blond jinchuuriki. His teacher had used one of his father's techniques on him.

The rasengan.

Jiraiya didn't really know how to feel after the deadly chakra orb had drilled through his student's head. The whole situation was so saturated with poetic justice and irony and what-have-you, that it left the older of the pair feeling very confused and more than slightly nauseous. He'd just "finished" what the Yondaime started, an act that would've appalled Minato if he were still alive, by killing the beast, who was really Naruto (who thought he was the Kyuubi), with his father's signature technique. The situation was wrong on sooo many levels. Of course a simple beheading wasn't nearly enough to put the demon child down, so his teacher didn't really feel the need to trouble himself with the condition of his headless student…another very strange thing to think about.¹

XXXXXXX

Naruto's skull reformed with a wet crack, and he began to turn back towards his godfather. The man was just looking back at him with a slightly amused expression written on his face. The child's anger quickly turned into excitement.

"That was awesome!" He shouted, retracting his claws as he ran towards his teacher.

Jiraiya grinned. The boy rarely showed enthusiasm for his training, so on the rare occasions that he did, his teacher was always sure to utilize it.

"You liked that eh?" the man stated disinterestedly as a second delphinium orb bloomed to life in his hand. "It's called the…"

"You took my head clean off!" the boy interrupted, continuing to bounce around his teacher's feet. "What a great fight! I mean you've "killed" me before but that time was amazing! I was almost sure that I would be able to cut you in half on that swing but you pulled that victory out of nowhere!" he mimicked looking thoughtful. "Have you been holding back on me Jiraiya-sensei?" Naruto teased.

The man deflated and his rasengan flickered out rather anti-climactically. "You _would_ think that being decapitated was awesome." He pouted.

"Oh come on Jiraiya." His student whined. "You won so you can't be sad! Besides, there's no such thing as a sore winner." The blonde looked thoughtful. "Is there?"

The Sannin stared at the boy blankly. He hated it when his godson screwed with him. Naruto's voice stopped him when he began to walk away.

"Good kill."

The man stopped, looking back at his young charge.

"What was that blue ball you used? It packed quite a bit of bite to it."

Jiraiya formed another rasengan as he began to speak. "It's called the rasengan, an A-rank original jutsu created by the fourth Hokage." He held it out so Naruto could have a closer look. "It's chakra manipulation in its purest form; no hand signs required. That pissed off the Uchiha clan to no end." He chuckled at the memory. "I can teach it to you sometime if you want."

"No thanks. I don't need it."

His teacher sighed. "I thought you wanted to get powerful? You're not going to be a very good ninja if you keep refusing to learn when I try to teach you. I understand that you don't want to be controlled, trust me I get it, but you're just being stubborn for the sake of being stubborn."

Naruto sent him an indignant look. "Be happy I'm here." His teacher moved to speak but the boy cut him off. "Jiraiya, what does the rasengan do? It felt like being hit with a really powerful drill. Massive damage to a small area, in other words an assassination jutsu." He pointed at a nearby tree. "Go hit that with your rasengan."

"But-"

"Do it!"

His sensei sighed but did as he was told. The rasengan connected with the trunk of the tree, effortlessly boring through the solid bark and coming out the other side. After the ball had disappeared, Jiraiya looked at him.

"See that tree there?" The blonde pointed at another tree.

His teacher nodded.

Naruto flashed out of existence and the tree that he'd pointed to exploded violently, propelling a storm of wooden shrapnel high into the air. The boy was standing in front of the blackened stump, demonic chakra licking up and down the length of his claws. Chunks of smoldering lumber rained down on the clearing as the demon child turned back to Jiraiya.

"I'll take my claws over your jutsu any day."

XXXXXXXX

For both the second and third year, that had been Naruto's prevailing attitude. Both years had been spent trying to teach the stubborn demon child ninjutsu and genjutsu. The boy had outright refused to learn anything for the first year. However, during that year the boy had grown considerably more tolerant of his teacher, even going so far as to drop the sarcastic tone when he addressed him as Jiraiya-sensei. The Sannin was willing to hazard a guess that Naruto's improved demeanor had something to do with the daily "spars" that they had. It seemed that the blonde's respect for him stemmed from the man managing to survive their gruesome battles. When the sage had beaten him with a surprise rasengan, his godson had finally recognized him as a worthy opponent. After that, every time the demon child was bested by his teacher, the man's standing increased. Still, Jiraiya often found himself on the wrong end of his godson's claws for saying something that angered the boy. But even so, at least he was making progress.

Having learned next to nothing in the previous year, the toad hermit was forced to take drastic measures to insure that this year his student would learn ninjutsu and genjutsu; In other words, bribery. For three weeks Naruto raised hell on the local bandit population in southern Rice Country. A few (many) civilians somehow managed to get caught in the crossfire between the jinchuuriki and his frightened pray but hey, shit happens. Jiraiya didn't like it, but he sure as hell wasn't going to get anywhere near the blood crazed demon vessel. His teacher was just happy that Rice had few shinobi to speak of. Shit would've really hit the fan if a ninja squad had engaged his pupil.

When Jiraiya began to teach him how to break a genjutsu, he'd been amazed. The boy was a natural! He didn't even have to try to escape and the technique would still be released. When his godfather had asked, Naruto had said something about the fox breaking the illusion for him. This made sense considering a pulse of chakra was needed to snap the brain out of its confusion. Apparently just having the demon inside him made the boy genjutsu proof. However, his aptitude for the skill ended there. It was impossible for him to cast even the slightest genjutsu. Not even the simple henge was within reach for the illusion challenged boy. But Jiraiya just waved it off and began to teach him ninjutsu. It wasn't like the kid would ever use genjutsu anyway. Destruction was his forte, not trickery.

His teacher bypassed the academy ninjutsu completely, deeming them either ineffectual or unnecessary when compared with the boy's skill set. Kawarimi was completely redundant. If Naruto could survive a direct hit from an A-rank assassination jutsu, regrow his head, and laugh it off, then he was certainly able to take a few kunai in the back, or a punch to the jaw. Hell, the little psycho would probably be more pissed off than injured. Bunshin was also ruled out because it was clashed horribly with his student's fighting style; not that it would have mattered anyway, seeing how it was a genjutsu just like the henge.

At first, Jiraiya had tried to teach him tree walking. The main point behind this lesson was to build up the boy's lackluster chakra control as well as impart him with a necessary skill that all shinobi eventually learned. Like most things in the sage's life, this had backfired terribly. The incident last year when the boy lashed out at him was nothing compared to this. For some reason Naruto didn't attack his teacher, his simply took out his rage on a nearby village.

XXXXXX

Naruto stood on a ridge that overlooked a simple farming village in the south of Rice. He was seething with hatred as he watched the villagers happily going about their business, totally unaware that they weren't going to live to see another day. Behind the six year old boy, four blazing chakra tails swished threateningly.

He was weak! So weak that he couldn't even master a simple chakra control exercise!

His teacher walked up cautiously behind him. The man spoke as though negotiating for the release of a hostage. "Naruto it's ok, just calm down. You can always try again tomorrow."

A low growl slid through the boy's clenched fangs. '_I'm not weak! I'm the host of the legendary nine-tailed fox, and I will not let people think that I'm weak! I will show Jiraiya that I am strong!_'

"Hey sensei, want to see some chakra control?"

His sensei watched in dismay as his protégé got down on all fours. Naruto's four crimson tails lashed violently against the ground, carving glowing trenches of molten earth in their wake. They snapped forward, coming to a stop before the child's mouth. Bolts of ruby hued chakra arced between his tails, nearly shrouding his form from view within the tunnel of vermilion light. His tails remained absolutely still, acting as conduits for the demon's chakra as they coaxed the volatile energy towards the child's mouth. Having played their part, his tails stuck the ground with a deafening crack, sending up a spray of melted stone on impact. For a moment nothing happened. the boy simply sat there, with enough demonic chakra floating between his gapping jaws to level a mountain.

And then he struck.

**"****Four tailed menacing ball!!"**

A small spark was the only warning Jiraiya had before a torrent of roiling crimson exploded from the jinchuuriki's gapping maw. Burning rays of light flashed outward and struck the village, instantly igniting it and the surrounding forest into a spectacular blaze. The ground buckled and heaved before exploding violently outward, acting as though it was alive, and was trying desperately to flee from the horrible pain that this boy was inflicting on it. The very sky seemed to melt. Bleed. Fire and ash rained from the heavens as the village was engulfed by the raging conflagration, and its outline greedily devoured by the sea of flames.

XXXXXXX

After that, they were forced to flee rice country. Every ninja within a hundred miles had been alerted to the boy's presence, and though the jinchuuriki wanted to stay, Jiraiya was able to convince him that they should leave. If Konoha's jinchuuriki as well as Jiraiya of the Sannin were discovered at the scene of the attack, it would plunge the hidden village into yet another war. Of course Naruto hadn't cared one way or the other as to the fate his village would suffer for the crimes he'd committed. He was just happy that so many people now recognized his demon's power.

They fled to Lighting Country, a gutsy move considering that the village hidden in the clouds and the village hidden in the leaves had never been on very favorable terms with each other. This proved to be of little consequence. After he'd obliterated the nameless village back in Rice Country, the little demon child was much more mellow, and was only too eager to learn what his godfather had to teach him.

The pair picked up where they had left off in Rice Country, chakra control and ninjutsu training. At the same time, the Sannin taught the boy how to wield kunai and shuriken…again. If it was possible, the boy appeared to have gotten even worse at throwing projectiles after the two year intermission between his training sessions. This time, not even the shuriken managed to stick into the target; a task that was very difficult to accomplish seeing how a shuriken's entire striking area was a blade. Again the blunted portions of the weapons became more deadly than the intended blades. In his ire, the boy had crushed one of the weapons into ball of crumpled steel and threw it at his target. Hurtling through the air at hypersonic speeds, the steel sphere struck dead center of the target, causing the wooden board to nearly disintegrate under the force of the blow.

Jiraiya had his answer.

The toad hermit had bought a duffle bag, loaded it up with as many ball-barings as he could, gave it to his student, and sent him off to practice his aim. Every single ball had hit its target with marksmen level accuracy. In essence, the Sannin had turned his godson into a cannon, and by using the Kyuubi's eyes as long range telescopic sights, Naruto ensured that one shot was all it ever took to put a target down for good.

The only problem was that now Naruto wouldn't do anything but throw projectiles! The boy was infuriating! He would camp out on cliffs for weeks at a time, sniping any cloud shinobi, traveler, holy man, or small furry creature that had the ill fortune of straying to close to his position. After killing nearly forty Kumo nin in a period of two months, Jiraiya once again deemed that they needed to relocate.

Like always Naruto had complained, but lately the demon vessel hadn't been putting any heat into his words. It had been nearly four months since he last threatened to kill his godfather, and he'd been much less dangerous to spar with as of recently. At first the Sannin had thought that the child was beginning to have a change of heart, but after watching him pick off cloud-nin from a mile out, cackling manically all the while, the notion was quashed.

Perhaps the boy had grown fond of him…yeah right.

XXXXXXX

Naruto was licking his claws clean after devouring another nameless victim. Although he didn't know the man's name, and didn't care, he had to commend the man for being such a tasty snack. He'd never eaten a pirate before, having spent his entire life either in a forest village, or on the run from armies of angry ninja. He'd expected pirates to taste terrible, considering that they were a ninja's mortal enemy, but Naruto took the high road. The boy just wasn't the type give into prejudice. He ate all people equally regardless of race, profession, or religious doctrine, and now he was very happy that he'd expanded his pallet.

'_Must have something to do with the salty air_.' He mused.

"Kid." Jiraiya groaned from his position at the helm. "That's disgusting."

The jinchuuriki rolled his eyes. '_Bigot_.' He turned around and what he saw caused the pirate meat to fall out of his mouth.

His godfather was sporting a long navel petticoat, along with a puffy white shirt, black pants, and an eye patch. An enormous feather sprouted from the wide hat black hat covered his spiky white hair, and for some reason a monkey with a vest was perched on his shoulder.

"What the hell are you wearing!?" he exclaimed in horror. "What kind of self-respecting ninja would dress up like a pirate!?"

The ninja/pirate raised an eyebrow at his student's outburst. "What kind of self-respecting ninja eats a pirate?" he replied.

"A hungry one." Naruto deadpanned. "What? It wasn't enough for you that we stole their ship so now we're stealing their clothes," the blond paused, "and their monkeys?"

A smug look spread across his sensei's face as began to stroke the monkey on his shoulder. "Commandeered." He corrected. "We commandeered their ship."

"And the difference is…" the boy motioned for him to continue.

"It's a nautical term." Both he and the monkey tilted their heads to the side. "Savvy?"

For a long while the boy said nothing. Finally, he turned around and continued to eat his pirate.

'_Bloody pirates_!'

XXXXXX

The pair sailed towards the Land of Waves. Hopefully, they would be able to find a remote island where he and Naruto could cut loose without having to worry about collateral damage. Jiraiya was right for once, the misty island country was a good choice for training the violent jinchuuriki, and after two years, the boy had finally managed to complete his sporadic ninjutsu training. He could now tree climb and water walk, as well as use the shadow clone, fire dragon missile, swamp of the underworld, earth style wall, and after much whining from his sensei, the rasengan.

It had taken the boy so long to complete his ninjutsu training because his chakra control was horrible; that and after he'd finally learned how to rein it in, he began inventing a few ninjutsu of his own. At the monument he only had two; the cannonade doppelganger and the yonbi-rasengan, but both were incredibly dangerous.

The first was just his personal twist on the shadow clone shuriken jutsu. Unable to even throw shurikens, let alone use them in a jutsu, the boy had tweaked the existing technique to include his favored projectile, a three pound steel ball. The result was devastating. With hundreds of heavy metal balls flying through the air at nearly mach speed, entire battalions could be wiped out in the blink of an eye. That fact alone was enough to judge it an S-rank jutsu, only Naruto had gone one steep further.

When his godfather had first begun his ninjutsu training, he had tested the boy to see what his chakra affinity was. As it turned out, Naruto had two elements, fire and wind. There was no question that the fox was behind his fire element, and apparently wind was his natural affinity. Fire and wind was a deadly combination for a shinobi to have considering that the wind element fueled the ninja's fire jutsu to greater heights. Point in case was the fire dragon missile. For a normal shinobi, the fire dragon missile was a B-rank, mid range ninjutsu; formidable but not unstoppable. For the host of the nine-tails, the fire dragon missile was a long range A-rank jutsu that bordered on S-rank. Just adding a little bit of wind chakra brought the technique to an entirely different level.

His "original" jutsu, the cannonade doppelganger, gained its lethal nature by piggybacking off of the force that the original ball was thrown with. One three pound ball traveling at 500mph became one thousand. This was just brute force and a cloning technique but sill it lived up to its S-rank title. For some reason, the boy must have found its destructive power to be inadequate and, for lack of a better word, upgraded it. By infusing the original ball with wind chakra then throwing it, the technique became incomparably destructive. The steel spheres cut through air at ungodly speeds and the shell of wind chakra amplified the sphere's penetration power to the utmost. Even if his opponent took cover behind a mountain the steel balls would still hit their target. When you were under fire by this jutsu, there was no escape.

The yonbi-rasengan was his second original jutsu. Simply put, it was a technique intended for use on a target that absolutely, positively, could not be allowed to see another day. In a nutshell it was the four tailed menacing ball in the palm of his hand. The only difference was that now he could change the ball's path. Erecting a barrier jutsu like the earth style wall would do nothing to lessen the impact of the rasengan, because Naruto would just sidestep the obstacle and deliver his payload. Mind you, the backlash from the yonbi rasengan would instantly retire any normal nin that attempted to use the jutsu. Anyone who valued their limbs would want to stay as far away from this jutsu as they could. But on the other hand, Naruto was the only person who could even use the jutsu so the unfortunate side effect of losing an arm or a leg upon detonation could be overlooked.

Upon finishing his ninjutsu training, Jiraiya had suggested that they begin to head back towards Fire Country. His student had growled at this but reluctantly agreed to follow him back. The jinchuuriki may have respected him as a warrior, and had actually grown rather fond of his godfather, but even so, the boy still hadn't warmed up to the fact that he was going to be a Konoha nin.

After another year of traveling around fire country the Sannin had basically exhausted what his student was willing to learn. The boy had picked up stealth and espionage remarkably quickly considering his violent personality. Though, after Jiraiya had remembered that his pupil had sneaking around for almost ten years as a man-hunter, his pride as a master teacher had been somewhat lessened. The boy had calmed down significantly he'd left the leaf village six years ago but a few of his animalistic habits had remained. He still ate people and he still had issues with his anger, but overall the blond was very agreeable.

Sort of.

Over the years, the Kyuubi had been oddly silent within the boy. This had caused the would-be nin to latch onto his godfather as a replacement companion. It all made sense now; Naruto was happy when the sage beat him in their spars because it reminded him that the man was a worthy opponent. The veteran ninja was powerful enough to beat him, and was therefore worthy of recognition and was welcomed as one of the pack. He just had to remember who the alpha-fox was.

This pack mentality became disturbingly clear when they began to live in populated areas for extended periods of time. The idea was to reintroduce his feral student to civilized life by moving from town to town, traveling to more populated villages when the boy seemed to be ready to do so. The first three re-locations passed without issue, and the Sannin began to relax and fall back into a normal routine. That had been a mistake.

When the man had been training with his godson, he'd either been fighting for his life or trying to teach the bull-headed child something new. This meant that Jiraiya, the legendary super pervert, was nearly _six years_ behind on his research. After making sure Naruto wasn't going to massacre any innocent bystanders, the pervy sage had left for some well earned peeping. Of course he'd let himself get caught. Being beaten by a mob of half naked women usually meant that he could cop a feel, or thirty, and no one would be the wiser. However, his overprotective student went insane at sight of someone else beating on his pack mate and had attacked. He'd pulled his teacher clear and then gone to hell on village with cannonade doppelganger jutsu. After that was done, the village, along with several others that just so happened to be located in the direction that Naruto had fired, had been utterly annihilated. Only after another year had passed did the not-so-pervy sage feel that it was safe to let his student back into a village.

XXXXXXX

The jinchuuriki was sitting on a bench in the village's park watching as the sun began set behind the trees. Contrary to what most people would assume, Naruto liked sunsets, they were peaceful and it was one of the few times that his favorite color appeared naturally. His softly glowing eyes were drawn from the scene when a small rubber ball hit his feet.

"Sorry onii-chan!" a childish voice called to him from a short distance off. "Can you give us back our ball?"

Naruto picked up the little ball and locked eyes with the child that had addressed him. He could've killed the happy little girl that was smiling at him, but he didn't. The ball had annoyed him slightly but it wasn't like it had hit him in the face or something. It had been an accident and the child was sorry about disturbing him. And most importantly she'd been respectful. Besides, killing a child would make a mockery of the Kitsune's power; he only killed the weak if he needed food or if they disrespected him.

He tossed the ball back and returned to his sunset.

"Thanks onii-chan!" the little girl said as she and her friends began to play their game again.

"Seven years ago you probably would've killed that girl." The Sannin said as he sat down next to the demon vessel.

Naruto smirked. "You're right I probably would've."

The two of them sat in peaceful silence as they watched the fiery orange of the setting sun dissolve into the inky curtain of night.

His sensei began to fiddle with his vest pockets. "I got you a present."

"Oh? What's the occasion?"

The man pulled out a rectangular box and handed it to the boy. "It's your birthday."

Naruto looked confused. "You never gave me a present on any of my other birthdays. What makes this one so special?"

His godfather chuckled. "If I'd tried this kind of thing before now, you probably would've gotten angry with me or something."

Naruto smiled. "Yeah you're probably right…though I suspect, you were just being stingy." He added as an afterthought.

"Oh Naruto, you wound me so with your cruel cruel words!" The sage exclaimed melodramatically. "Just open your present, you little ingrate."

The boy did so.

In the box, rested a pair of orange and black fingerless gloves.

"You got me…gloves?" he asked, feeling a little let down. "You _are_ stingy!"

Jiraiya turned his nose up. "Am not." He contradicted snootily. He quickly dropped the act before the boy got mad. "Those gloves have seals on the palms that will allow you to summon one of your oh-so-special cannon balls into the palm of your hand. Just channel some chakra into them and poof, instant carnage. The best part is, you look stylish _and_ don't have to lug around that unwieldy duffel bag anymore. How's that for stingy?"

Naruto grinned as he slipped on the gloves. "You always mange to get me the perfect birthday presents." The jinchuuriki tapped his stomach.

His sensei just smiled and turned back to watch the rising moon.

"What can I say kid? I aim to please."

* * *

1. The temtation to write "But Naruto was a pretty cool guy. He got his head drilled off and doesn't afraid of anything" instead of what I did was was overwhelming. (If you get this joke, you're probably a loser just like me)

2. No, I didn't add a little number 2 anywhere so you won't be able to find it. I also really wanted to name the cannonade doppelganger jutsu the Gatling gun jutsu. amusing but slightly out of place for narutoverse. oh well.


	5. The Mountain

**AN**: Let me first start by saying thank you to everyone who reviewed. It makes my fucking day every single time the little number 21(at this point) goes up. Seriously, it's the high point of my day. How sad is that? GenocideWolf, you crafty bastard, this is for you I guess. This chapter was much more difficult to write than I'd originally planed, so I'm not very happy with it. Maybe some of you who are reading it will like it more than I do.

Reviews make me smile, something I won't be doing very often considering that I'm going to fail calculus over this story. Fuck it, I'm graduating in 17 days anyway. 8D

* * *

Another year passed before the pair returned to Konoha, and during this time the boy had learned absolutely nothing. The simple fact of the matter was that Jiraiya had nothing left to teach him. Or, that is to say, he considered his godson to be dangerous enough for the time being. In any case, Naruto didn't seem to care one way or the other.

The one thing that never really changed over the years was the boy's insufferable pride. Rather than try to humble the boy, and most likely end up headless in the process, his godfather just let it be, and as a result the boy had gotten even worse. At the beginning of the trip he'd only been a jinchuuriki; and 'only' was a rather iffy word to use when describing a demon vessel. Now, he was a jinchuuriki that knew two S-rank jutsus, five A-rank jutsus, trained extensively in hand-to-hand combat for nearly eight years, and, who could forget, was able to pop of a target's head at close to a mile away. Most genin couldn't even touch their sensei; Naruto had nearly killed his. His pride was well earned.

But that didn't make him any less obnoxious.

However pride aside, the demon child was ready to return to Konoha, and so the Sannin had sent a messenger frog to his teacher. The old man had written back 'you may return when I have called for you.' In other words, his teacher was in the middle of a diplomatic pissing contest with the clans and the council. Contrary to popular belief, paperwork was _not_ the bane of all Kages.

Political backlash was.

Along with their undying fear of paperwork, many people were also under the impression that a Kage had absolute control over their hidden village. This was also false. In theory, a Kage held all the power in the village, but in reality, their power was disturbingly finite.

The old man wasn't able to just kill people left and right for disagreeing with him. That is to say, legally he had the power to do so, but if he tried, his ninja would instantly rebel and strike him down. For all of the laws that the village had, it was still the person holding the biggest rock that was in charge. There was no question that Sarutobi held the biggest rock, but this did him little good if every ninja in the village turned on him.

The majority of the clan heads, as well as the civilian council, were vehemently opposed to the idea of letting the demon child return. And Sarutobi couldn't exactly blame them for doing so. Naruto's attack during the day of mourning eight years ago was still very fresh in the minds of citizens of Konoha. As such, they would never allow their leader to bring back the creature that had caused nothing but hardship for the village. This was true, but the simple fact of the matter was that Naruto was their ultimate weapon, all of Sarutobi's long term plans rode on the boy. If the nine-tails was coaxed into the hands of their enemies, the village would be razed to the ground within an hour.

He had to return to the village as quickly as possible.

In the end it had come down to base intimidation. The clan heads had threatened to remove him from office, by force if the need arose, but Sarutobi had simply smiled at this. He pointed out that Jiraiya would be very displeased with them for killing his teacher, probably to the point where he would go rouge. As this was sinking in, the old ninja had offhandedly commented that Konoha's jinchuuriki was _very_ protective of his godfather. He wondered aloud what the young boy would do to those who had killed his teacher's teacher.

This of course shut everybody up. They tried to bully him by throwing stones; he retaliated by dropping a mountain on their heads. More often than not, this was the way that ninja politics played out. The clans and the council had no option other than to submit to their leader. But as a conciliation prize, the Hokage was willing to give into a few of their demands.

It's much easier to rule when people were under the misguided impression that their opinions mattered.

Most of the demands had no barring on the demon child what so ever. The most common of the demands were petty things that the civilian council wanted; things like Naruto can't eat here or Naruto can't buy from so-and-so, and so on and so forth. In laymen's terms: nitpicking. The Sandaime knew full well that the boy would eat whoever he wanted wherever he wanted and that it would be a cold day in hell before the little bastard ever started taking orders from him. So he'd agreed. He loved Konoha but people were going to die regardless of what he did. Right now, his job was to minimize casualties, not keep everyone happy. He could either anger the civilians or he could anger the Kyuubi. The civilians were clearly the lesser of two evils.

The ninja present were a different story. They had wanted to wait another year to bring Naruto back, citing the upcoming Chunin exams as the reason to delay his return. If the boy was present during the exams and, Kami forbid, killed one of the visiting dignitaries, Konoha would be ruined. Once word got around that the leaf village was home to a crazy ninja who ate potential customers, no one would hire a leaf nin ever again. The village's economy would be in shambles, making it all too easy for Iwa or Kumo to finish them off for good.

Sarutobi wanted to tear his hair out at naivety of their argument. In his letter requesting their return, Jiraiya had given him an overview of the jinchuuriki's training. Right now the only thing that the old man could think about was the passage that detailed Naruto's brief stint in Lightning Country. If the blond thought it was fun to set up shop on a cliff side and throw heavy steel balls at cloud nin, how would he react when he saw a bunch of rich, brightly clothed, fat people walking slowly and in single file towards the village gates?

He'd have a fucking field day!

If the child _wasn't_ within the village walls by the time the Chunin exams began the leaf would be ruined. It was possible, though highly improbable, that the boy would risk attacking a VIP while he was within the village walls. Naruto was strong, but he knew that he wasn't able to beat the entire ninja population of Konoha, plus two or three irate visiting Kages. He would most likely hole up in a dark quiet place until the exams had blown over. But if he was outside the village with only Jiraiya holding onto his leash when a procession of easy targets walked by, it would be a bloodbath.

The Sandaime knew what the ninja were after.

In reality, the clans wanted to postpone the boy's return because they didn't want their children to get stuck on a team with him. After the Hokage had informed them that Naruto would _not_ be placed on a Genin team due to the inherent danger it would bring, the clans had become quite agreeable. However this statement was only half true.

Prior to the meeting, it had become public knowledge that Jiraiya was assigned to be a Jonin sensei due to the lack of ninja who'd volunteered for the position this year. Naturally, the clans had been ready to rip out each other's throats if it meant that their child would be taught by one of the legendary Sannin. This forced Sarutobi to act rather quickly, fearing that the clans would take after his jinchuuriki and actually rip out each other's throats.

It had been a long outstanding Konoha tradition to pair the dead-last of the graduating class with the top marking boy and girl. The lesser known side of this team setup was that the sensei was often times totally inexperienced when it came to teaching raw Genin. Jiraiya wasn't new to teaching per say, but it was close enough to count. It had been more than twenty years since the toad Sannin had taught Minato's team, and his resent work with Naruto had been completely different than training a normal Genin. Point in case; a normal Genin was incredibly fragile and had to be protected for quite some time before they could actually stand on their own two feet. Naruto was the very antithesis of fragile. The boy was pretty cool, he regularly got his head drilled in and doesn't afraid of anything.¹ But shitty grammar aside, for some reason this method created abnormally strong genin teams.

Or S-rank criminals, though that small detail was often overlooked.

As it was, Inuzuka Kiba was the dead-last of the class, with Yamanaka Ino and Uchiha Sasuke at the opposite side of the spectrum, both having top scores. These three were chosen to make up the unofficial team Jiraiya, much to the chagrin of the remaining clan heads. However, the Hokage had neglected to tell them one vital detail.

The sage's only stipulation had been that his godson was to remain with him so that he could keep a close eye on the boy's behavior. On paper, Naruto would never be on a Genin team; but he would be hovering dangerously close to Jiraiya's. However, the Sandaime would only divulge that little piece of information to the clans after his mountain was securely in hand.

XXXXXX

Kiba growled as he looked at the seat behind him. Smirking back was Uchiha Sasuke, jackass extraordinaire. The boy had done nothing but piss him off from day one. When he first arrived at the academy, Kiba had tried to befriend him. Sasuke had arrogantly stated that he would not befriend a weakling from a nothing clan and had promptly turned to leave, as though the mere presence of the other boy sickened him. As expected, Kiba had attacked him in a fit of rage, hoping that he could catch his opponent off guard and quickly win the fight. The fight _was_ short. Kiba had gotten his ass handed to him by the much more experienced Uchiha. Four years later, it still made him angry.

In the weekly spars Sasuke had proven himself time and again as he quickly and gracefully dispatched his opponents, cementing his place as the number one taijutsu combatant. This had frustrated the boy to no end because his clan's claim to fame had been their unmatched ferocity in unarmed combat. Yet the Uchiha had managed to beat him at his own game over and over again, making his victories look easy.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Sasuke also had the entire female population of their class chasing after him and proclaiming their undying love for him. That wasn't the bad part. The bad part was that he didn't do anything about it. He just sat there, stoic and composed as the girls went wild over how cool Sasuke-kun was. Kiba would've killed to be in the other boy's position and just to spite him, the Uchiha did nothing. He didn't even seem interested in girls. That train of thought, of course, spawned the notorious Sasu-gay joke amongst the other boys in the class, but it was quickly snuffed out after he'd decimated them in the weekly sparing matches.

The boy was absolutely perfect and he was stuck as the dead-last, just because he'd rather sleep than do written work. What good did the history of Konoha do him in a fight anyway?

Again he growled.

Sasuke continued to look smug.

A lazy voice to his left snapped him out of his staring contest. "Simmer down Kiba; it's too troublesome to get worked up like that."

The Inuzuka rolled his eyes. Shikamaru said that about everything. In fact, he was fairly certain that the lazy boy would stop breathing if it wouldn't kill him. "I can't help it, that guy just rubs me the wrong way."

The crumpled heap of Shikamaru on the desk made a small noise of annoyance. "Troublesome. You'll probably never see him again after you graduate, so why should you care what he does?"

Kiba was about to reply when he realized that the boy fallen asleep. He contemplated hitting him on his oddly pineapple shaped head to wake him up, but decided against it. Letting out a defeated sigh he slumped in his chair and began to prod the sleeping Akamaru on his head.

"Ya hear that buddy? We won't have to deal with that stuck up jackass anymore."

The puppy on his head just yawned and burrowed deeper into the hood of his coat. That was something to look forward to; never seeing Sasuke's haughty smirk was going to be the highlight of this year. Or so he thought.

After Iruka had silenced the class with the notorious big head jutsu, he gave them a long, and rather boring, speech about how they were ninja now and how they were expected to act like adults. At least that's what Kiba thought his teacher was talking about. He'd chosen to follow Akamaru's example and burrow into his coat I hopes that he could sleep, and as such, only caught every third or fourth word that the man said. He was rudely awoken by a piece of chalk bouncing of his forehead. Iruka stared at him pointedly. At least he had the common decency to look embarrassed.

"Sorry sensei." He rubbed the back of his head.

The Chunin just sighed and began to assign them their Genin squads. Kiba dozed off again until he heard his name called.

"Team 7 consisting of Inuzuka Kiba," his and Akamaru's heads popped up. "Yamanaka Ino," Simultaneous groans were heard. "And Uchiha Sasuke," At this Kiba's head slammed loudly against his desk causing his puppy to bounce not to gracefully off the hard wood surface. The little dog latched on to one of his ears, and over the pain and the growling he was able to hear a loud cry of, "Ha! In your face forehead, Sasuke-kun is all mine!" followed shortly thereafter by several anguished cries from the female population. This prompted yet another use of the big head jutsu.

"Ehem, as I was saying Team 7 consisting of Inuzuka Kiba, Yamanaka Ino, and Uchiha Sasuke, your Jonin instructor will be Jiraiya of the Sannin."

Pandemonium ensued. However, Kiba paid it no attention.

'_Jiraiya of the Sannin! Hell yeah! With him as my sensei I'll definitely become a kick-ass ninja. It's almost worth having the noisy girl and pompous prick on my team_.'

He spared a glance out of the corner of his eye at Sasuke. The boy was grinning. Not one of his usual smirks but a full on split-your-face-in-half grin. It was kinda creepy. No, it was _really_ creepy.

'_But who cares! I got the toad sage Jiraiya!_'

XXXXXXX

After Iruka had announced the rest of the teams, he'd informed them that they would have to wait for their teachers to pick them up. Fortunately Kiba didn't have to wait very long. After team 8, made up of Sakura, Hinata, and Shino, had been escorted out by some smoken' hot chick with red eyes, Jiraiya made his appearance.

The pervy sage was nothing if not flashy. Smoke filled the room and a chorus of croaking filled the air. In the center of haze a hand shot out, fingers spread and swaying in tune to the music. As the smoke began to fade away, the Sannin spoke.

"From the east to the west and the north to the south he roams, battling the forces of evil and darkness." A faint silhouette became visible within the cloud. "Men lock up their wives and babies dry their tears before my gallant presence! The legendary sage of mount Myobokuzan," The smoke cleared completely, revealing a man standing in a strange pose atop a giant red and brown toad.

"Jiraiya!!"

For a few seconds nothing happened, and then the room went insane. The newly christened Genin flocked around the perverted sage, asking him a myriad of questions or simply screaming and passing out. Jiraiya was very proud with himself at the moment, but a small spike of hateful chakra quickly froze the blood in his veins. He had forgotten one very important thing; Naruto was competitive by nature.

Killing intent flooded through the room, bringing the academy students to their knees by the sheer magnitude of the murderous aura. A whirlwind of red light exploded from the center of the room, sending tendrils of demonic chakra arcing through the room, hungrily seeking out a victim to devour. Abruptly the chakra storm stopped, reviling a blond boy dressed in lose fitting orange and black ninja attire, razor sharp claws extended, fangs bared and crimson eyes blazing.

"Jiraiya-sensei you forgot to mention me." He chided darkly as he began to advance on the Sannin. "How well I ever make any new friends if nobody knows my name?"

The toad sage just rolled his eyes. "Enough with the theatrics Naruto, they get it. You're a badass. How about you just wait at the training ground like we discussed and we'll come and get you after we're all acquainted with one another."

The jinchuuriki pouted. "You used to be a lot more fun than this." His childish look was quickly evaporated as he turned on Iruka. "Do you remember me scar-face?" He grinned wickedly.

Terrified, Iruka could only nod.

"Excellent," He crooned. "I was beginning to fear that the village had forgotten me." With that he vanished in another blast of toxic chakra.

Jiraiya groaned as he looked at his cowering Genin team.

Why did his godson always have to make things difficult?

* * *

1. All I can say is, I'm **_so_** sorry. This time I couldn't help it.


	6. Lies

**An**: This is gonna be a hella long author's note. One, yay my computer is fixed. Long story short it had a problem with the system memory and a virus. I fixed both by using the 'kill it with fire' method and basically wiping my computer , I would have updated earlier, but the AP calculus test was this week and I was busy studying things that weren't even on the test. Fuck.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I always say this but, they made my day. In about three weeks this story has gotten over 3500 hits and has 70 alerts. :) Thanks a lot guys, and again reviews are always appreciated.

I gonna take a sec right now to clarify some shit. Kishimoto somehow fucked up a show about ninjas with super powers. NINJAS WITH SUPER POWERS!!! It's practically made of God and win! How can you possibly fuck that up! Any way, cannon doesn't always apply.

1) Itachi is a bad guy. Not a bad guy pretending to be a good guy pretending to be a bad guy, but an actual bad guy.

2) No juubi. Kishimoto took all of the mystery out of the biju when he said "Hey guess what? They're all part of some big lanky creepy son of a bitch with super rennigan eyes. Ta-da!"

Asshole.

3) Naruto will most likely not be paired with anyone. The reason for this should be obvious. However, if you can think of someone who would be a good match for psycho fox, feel free to PM me with a list of reasons why so and so should be with him. (In any case, don't expect a pairing)

4) Pein **is** a motherfucker (epic beard joke). I will not gay him up by saying "oh! Nagato is the one who's controling him." Nagato is a skinny jackass who couldn't even be a good villain even though he nearly annihilated all of Konoha. God realm Pein is the true body and no anorexic prick is going to sully his good name on my watch!

Boom. done. go read.

* * *

One thing that wasn't taught in the Ninja academy was that for a shinobi, death was an unavoidable reality. Every facet of a ninja's life revolved around death, so much so, that by the time a ninja makes Jonin, the practice of taking a life has become second nature to them. After a while, killing becomes a reflex, like blinking, or breathing. Reports of blood drenched Jonin returning from their mission and reporting that nothing had happened were fairly common. In most cases, the veteran shinobi had literally killed their attacker in their sleep, or had killed their opponent and had then forgotten that they'd done so. The most famous example of this kill and forget mentality that most high ranking ninja developed had been demonstrated by Kakashi.

The copy-nin had been assigned an A-rank mission that entailed the assassination of a missing nin who had taken over a large village in the south of Fire Country. The man had declared that the conquered town would become known henceforth as "the village hidden in the darkness" and had appointed himself Shodaime Yamikage. To make a long story short, Kakashi had killed the self proclaimed Kage and had then proceeded to roam the countryside for nearly three weeks; searching for his long dead target. He only returned to Konoha after he'd discovered that some spineless bastard had stolen his kill nearly a month ago, causing his mission to result in a failure. Having already received payment for the mission, Sarutobi simply chuckled softly at the Jonin's report before telling him that he was dismissed.

The killing reflex or "auto-kill syndrome" was polar opposite when compared to the mentality of a fresh Genin graduate. Many Genin were under the mistaken impression that the life of a ninja was glamorous and exciting.

They imagined that they would grow up to be heroes; legendary ninja who garnered respect and adoration from all who encountered them. The overall attitude was that they would become powerful warriors who would one day swoop down on the enemies of the hidden leaf and crush them. To them, death didn't even enter into the equation. How could they possibly be killed? After all, they were ninja.

However, the brutal reality was that more than half of them would die when confronted with their first kill. After that, one in three of those who succeeded in making their first kill would retire from ninja life completely. Cold hard statistics showed that out of the thirty Genin who graduated from the academy, only four or five of them would live to see their twenty fifth birthday.

After Naruto's…flamboyant entrance, many of the academy graduates were ready to hand in their newly acquired hitai-ites and quit being ninja all together. Jiraiya couldn't really blame them for wanting to do so. His godson's overwhelming killing intent had crushed their misguided view of ninja life into dust. They were mortal, they could die, and most importantly, there's always a bigger fish so whatever you do, don't piss it off.

Of course Jiraiya and Iruka had played the whole situation off like it was one big practical joke, saying things like "Of course that wasn't a demon." And "I guess one of last year's graduates wanted to haze the newbie Genin."

In short order, lying through their teeth.

But this could be considered a necessary evil. The village desperately needed to replenish its ninja population. First the Kyuubi attacked, and then it attacked again wearing the guise of a four year old boy. Alone, these two attacks had claimed more than half of their shinobi forces, a crippling situation for any village to endure, and even then, another dark day was on the horizon for Konoha.

Three years after the demon child had left an ANBU captain known as Uchiha Itachi massacred his entire family, leaving only his younger brother alive. The Uchiha were elite leaf-nin, but more importantly, their clan was huge. When Itachi slew his clan, he'd simultaneously robbed the village of its most powerful bloodline, and killed off perhaps ten percent of Konoha's shinobi forces. After loosing more than half of its military in a period of seven years, the Leaf was out of time. With both Kumo and Iwa snapping at its throat, and no military to defend against a combined attack from two of the strongest shinobi villages, Konoha would surely be annihilated

However it was Naruto, the bane of Konoha, who ended up saving the village.

Four years ago, the jinchuuriki of the nine-tails demonstrated a fraction of his prisoner's matchless power by completely atomizing a village in southern Rice Country. This unintentional display of force had stopped the enemy village's dead. Even though both villages had control over jinchuuriki, they would not risk open war with the keeper of the nine-tailed biju king. If their demons fought, no one would emerge victorious.

Konoha was granted a brief reprieve, but it wouldn't last forever. They had to repopulate their military immediately or they would be forced to rely on an unstable, sadistic little boy to shield them from the Cloud and the Rock villages. So now they were lying to children, tricking them into dying for their village.

It was the way things had to be.

XXXXXXX

Jiraiya lead his Genin team to training ground 56.

Training ground 56 was an area that primarily taught ninja how to use the environment to their advantage. It was a large marshy plain, partially submerged under dingy grey water. Towards the outside it was ringed by a thick bamboo forest that cast shadows that appeared to never stop moving. The entire training ground was eerily quiet save for the soft squishing of mud under his student's feet.

Ino wrinkled her nose. "This place is gross. Every thing is wet and this nasty swamp smell is never going to get out of my clothes."

The Sannin sent her a brief backwards glance as he continued walking.

"Just think of how your teammate feels." He replied. Another quick glance backwards landed on a very sick looking Kiba trying to use the hood of his coat as a makeshift gasmask. He did not envy the Inuzuka's heightened sense of smell at the moment.

The blonde's eyebrows raised in realization. "Oh of course!" She turned to Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun are you alright? I know this place smells horrible but if you walk close enough to me, my perfume should cover it up."

Sasuke didn't say anything, he just continued to walk forward.

"He was talking about me you idiot." The indigent muffled voice of Kiba interjected.

Ino rounded on her teammate with her hands on her hips. "Ewww! Don't be such a pervert! The only boy who can smell me is Sasuke-kun."

"I don't want to smell you!" Kiba shot back. "And even if I did; I'm an Inuzuka, I could smell your perfume from a mile away! But it's probably better if I didn't since you would smell just as bad as the swamp."

Jiraiya winced at his student's blunder. Kiba was correct of course. The marsh stink had probably already saturated the girl's clothing; however he lacked the necessary tact to protect himself from the girl's fury. Right now, the Sannin was remembering a very similar situation between him and his…curvaceous teammate.

'Have fun hopping around kid.'

She gave Kiba a murderous look before lashing out with her foot, connecting squarely with her teammate's shin. As the super pervert predicted the boy began to hop around like a monkey who'd been stung by a wasp.

"Ow, Son of a bitch! What the hell did you eat this morning!? Soldier pills!?"

"Tch, some ninja you turned out to be." stated a smug Sasuke. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised though, given that you come from a no talent clan of flea bitten mongrels."

Kiba's face contorted into a mask of pure rage. "Ok pretty boy, let's go!!"

The Inuzuka rushed his smirking opponent, swinging at his head. The Uchiha read the boy's attack and caught him by the wrist. Utilizing the slick terrain, he slid forward, bending Kiba's arm at an awkward angle and kneeing him in the stomach. The boy didn't even have time to register the hit to his gut before he found his leg kicked out from under him and his face buried in the foul smelling muck; a still smirking Sasuke on his back.

Ino cheered at how cool her Sasuke-kun looked but the boy in question just ignored her. Her opinion meant nothing; she was just as bad as the idiot pined underneath him, however if Jiraiya was impressed then his victory had meaning. As he turned to his sensei, Sasuke's smirk was instantly wiped off his face.

The toad sage was scowling at him, clearly displeased with how his student had acted.

"So you like to beat up people weaker than you?" he asked in a voice like ice.

The next thing Sasuke knew, it felt like his head had been struck by a sledge hammer. His vision went fuzzy and his ears began to ring but still, he vaguely became aware that he was skipping like a stone across the wet ground. He slowly skidded to a stop and after lying on his back for a few minutes in a vain attempt to try and stop the world from spinning, he shakily got to his feet. He looked towards his teacher.

Jiraiya hadn't moved at all, he was just massaging his temples in an attempt to alleviate his current aggravation.

Naruto managed to fuck everything up.

"You should play nicely with others." Instructed a phantom whisper.

The groggy Uchiha turned to face the voice. What he saw froze his blood.

The demon from the academy.

For a few seconds Sasuke couldn't even breathe. It wasn't a practical joke being played on the newbie Genin by one of last years graduates. It was a monster. A living breathing monster. His mind screamed at him to run; run and hide from this creature standing behind him, but he couldn't.

He was frozen with fear.

That thought hit him like a bolt of lightning. He was an Uchiha, the last Uchiha, and yet he was cowering like an infant in the presence of this demon. Sasuke grit his teeth. He was a ninja, a fearless shinobi of the leaf, yet he couldn't even bring himself to face his foe. How could he possibly kill Itachi and avenge his clan if he couldn't even look at this creature.

'_I'm not weak! I will destroy you Itachi!_'

Without warning he pivoted on the slick grass, drawing a kunai from the holster on his leg as he spun, and burying it up to the hilt in the grinning demon's neck.

He leapt back, retrieving another kunai. And to his horror, the demon boy didn't fall. Hell, he didn't even flinch.

Naruto's ruby eyes lazily examined the blade that was jammed into his throat. The boy's expression didn't change as he ripped the blade out of his neck and tossed it to the ground in front of Sasuke's feet.

"You missed your target. You hit my clavicle instead of my jugular." A sharp metallic click caused a pair of wicked looking talons to extend from the boy's fingers.

"Here; I'll show you how you do it."

"Naruto!"

The boy's head jerked towards his godfather. Jiraiya had a disappointed look on his face.

"Genin? Really?"

The insane grin on the boy's face fell as he looked back at a trembling Sasuke. The boy was weak. Far too weak to put up a decent fight against him. He could crush the little Uchiha like a bug beneath his boot; but this fact brought up a very pressing question. Why kill a bug? No one prospered from killing an insect. In the end, all you wound up with was a dead bug and a bunch of sticky goo on your shoes. The jinchuuriki turned away.

'_No. Your flesh will not satisfy my hunger._'

"There's no honor to be gleaned by killing trash like you." And with that, Naruto's claws retracted and he disappeared.

The toad Sannin breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment there, it looked like Sasuke would end up as fox food regardless of the fact that he was no challenge to the boy. He signaled for his students to gather around him and as they were walking warily towards their sensei, the hermit raised a slab of dry land out of the marsh for them to sit on.

As they sat down, the Sannin examined his team. Ino was fairing the best out of the three, aside from looking slightly pale she seemed to be perfectly fine. Kiba wasn't in as good of condition as his blonde teammate, but he would live. His wounds were superficial and the mud that now caked the front of his body wouldn't hurt anything accept his pride. Sasuke was the worse off, but would still be fine. The punch that his godson had caught the boy with would hurt like a son of a bitch, but would do much more than that. Like Kiba, his pride was probably more damaged than his body.

Thank Kami Naruto was pulling his punches. If he'd hit the other boy at full force, they'd be finding bits of Uchiha head in Lightning Country.

"What the hell was that?" muttered Sasuke as he continued to rub his throbbing skull.

Jiraiya glared at him. "I was about to ask you the very same thing. You provoked your teammate into attacking you so that you could impress your sensei by beating him. Guess what kid; I'm not impressed. I'm pissed off."

Sasuke's eyes drifted away from Jiraiya's, hoping that if he appeared aloof the older man would just leave him alone. Right now he didn't need to be scolded.

The sound of muffled snickering to his right drew the Sannin's attention to Kiba.

"What are you laughing at idiot? Don't forget that it was you who attacked your teammate first. Also don't forget that he kicked your ass because you couldn't control your temper."

Kiba and Akamaru sagged.

"And you," He pointed at Ino. "Did you say that you're wearing perfume?"

The girl gave him a cautious look. "Yeah…why does that matter?"

Jiraiya pinched his brow in exasperation "Kiba." The boy looked at him. "What did you say to Ino earlier?"

The boy perked up and grinned mischievously. "That she smells like a swamp." A sharp punch to the arm quickly wiped the smile off his face.

He rubbed his arm gingerly. "Dammit woman quit hitting your teammate! Geez you hit like a man."

This comment earned him another punch.

The hermit sighed. "Kid, you need to learn how to keep your mouth shut and look pretty, otherwise you're not going to last very long." He refocused on Ino. "He said that he could smell you from a mile away. Now, I'm not even trained in tracking by scent and I could find you."

"Lesson one." He held up a finger. "Kunoichi do not wear perfume, they don't diet, and they don't try to be pretty. If you do any of these things, you'll probably wind up dead."

A faint pulse of killing intent reached the Sannin. Apparently Naruto was becoming restless. He would have to finish this next part quickly.

"You are all teammates now, and as such I expect you to leave your personal feelings behind. I don't care if you all hate each other. I don't care if you all hate me. You _will_ become a functional ninja squad and you _will_ stop acting like children. Do you understand?"

A mumbled "yes sensei" was the only acknowledgement that the toad sage got but it would have to make do.

Jiraiya brightened. "Okay, I'm done being hardass-sensei now. So how about we get to know each other?"

His students were caught off guard by his abrupt change in mood.

"Sooo… what do we say?" Ino asked.

"Oh nothing much, just tell us your name, things you like or hate, and what your goal for the future is."

Kiba pointed at him. "How about you go first?"

Jiraiya smiled. He'd said the very same thing to Sarutobi nearly four decades ago.

"Alright. My name is Jiraiya of the Sannin, I like," he giggled. "Writing and researching literature. And sometimes, if I feel I've earned it, I'll relax by the hot springs."

"Don't you mean in the hot springs?" Ino interrupted.

Jiraiya's perverted grin widened "Oh you're dirty."

His students shared a confused look but it went unnoticed by their teacher.

"I dislike people who abandon their comrades, and people who would betray their friends in order to become powerful. And my goal for the future is to see the three of you make Jonin." He pointed back at Kiba. "Your turn dog boy."

The Inuzuka sent him an irritated look at the dog boy comment but he let it slide. He'd eaten enough mud today.

"My name is Inuzuka Kiba. I like Akamaru," the little head-dog yipped. "and learning new ninjutsu. I dislike people who look down on my clan or underestimate my skill." He shot a glare at Sasuke who pointedly ignored it. "And my goal for the future is to become head of the ANBU hunter nin like my dad was."

Jiraiya nodded. This kid was so similar to him when he was young that it was scary.

"Princess. Go."

Ino flicked a piece of hair out of her face and began to speak. "My name is Yamanaka Ino. I like flowers and…" she trailed off, looking at Sasuke out of the corner of her eye. "I dislike perverts," The Sannin winced. "and people who are annoying." She growled "Like forehead. And my goal for the future…" she blushed and again began stare at the Uchiha.

'_A fangirl. Goody_.'

He nodded at Sasuke. "Duck hair?"

Sasuke ignored the hair remark and steepled his hands in front of his face. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are very few things that I like and there are many things that I hate."

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. '_Great another psycho for me to deal with. At least I can beat this one up if he gets out of line._'

The boy continued to speak, not noticing his sensei's inner commentary. "My dream for the future is more of an ambition really. To revive my clan." Ino blushed again. "And to kill a certain man."

'_Yep. Psycho._'

The sage's train of thought was interrupted by mocking applause. He groaned.

'_Speaking of psychos_.'

Naruto melted out of the bamboo forest, prompting the sitting team 7 to scramble to their feet and get behind their sensei.

"To kill a certain man." The boy quoted. "What a crazy, crazy little world it is; am I right Uchiha?" Sasuke growled but stayed behind Jiraiya. He couldn't kill this opponent. Yet.

"My goal for the future is to kill a certain man also, but it appears that you already know who it is that you're going to kill. Lucky bastard. I'm still searching for my prey." The jinchuuriki stroked his chin in feigned deliberation. "What if we're both going after the same person. Ooooh that would be bad for you. I bet that I'd get to em long before you do."

"Stay away from Itachi!" Sasuke spat. "He took everything from me, I deceive to be the one who ends his miserable life!"

Naruto grinned manically. Messing with this kid was like punching a drunken monkey in the face. It never got old. The boy shook his head in amusement and looked to his godfather.

"Dog boy, princess, duck hair. How come everybody got a nickname accept for me." He whined.

The toad sage quirked an eyebrow at the very dangerous and _very_ annoying creature he called his godson.

"Ok fine then. Jackass, introduce yourself."

Naruto's forehead crinkled in confusion. "Jackass? But my name is-oh I see what you did there! You clever dog, you."

His godfather gave him a "hurry up" gesture and the boy obliged.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, though most people address me as 'you' or 'fucker' or 'you fucker.' But that doesn't really matter seeing as though I have a nasty little habit of killing people who piss me off."

Ino's eyes went wide.

"Oh yes."

"Today Naruto."

The boy sighed. "Man you became so uptight after I stopped attacking you in your sleep. Perhaps I should bring the practice back? Anyway I like to go…camping in the mountains and hunting for wild game. I dislike people who disrespect me or my pack, and my goal is to one day fight a foe who is worthy of my jaws." Suddenly his eyes lit up. "Oh and one more thing."

Two flaming tails began to skate across the stone platform.

"**I'm the Kyuubi.**"


	7. Red eyes

**An**: Sorry for the wait on this chapter guys, my life has been kinda nuts lately. Graduation is in 5 days and right now I'm home sick, writing this, instead of studying for my finals. woo hoo. Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter, you people are too good to me. Also, I'm not going to ignore the few negative reviews I received. I agree with them completely; the first two chapters suck and I'll probably be redoing them at some point in the future.

Anyway here's your chapter. Review if you like it or if you have any ideas that you think might be good. Oh and yes, there are a couple of stupid jokes thrown in here that I just couldn't resist.

* * *

For a ninja, there is no distraction more treacherous to be ensnared by than the illusion of emotions. In the academy, students were taught from an early age that a shinobi's own emotions could be far more dangerous than any tangible opponent. Anger made a ninja stupid; it caused them to attack without thinking and in so doing, they would fall into every single trap that the enemy had set for them. Likewise, overconfidence would inevitably lead to a ninja's death. The same held true for impatience or ignorance. It seemed like a cruel joke that every single one of these words could be used to describe a fresh-from-the-academy Genin.

Among veteran shinobi, words such as these had become synonymous with labels like 'idiot' and 'crow food.'

The main reason for this problem steamed from the way that the academy trained any would-be leaf nin. In essence, it was an academy teacher's job to do the impossible. They had to shield their students from the harsh reality of the ninja world (ie. death) whist simultaneously instilling them with the knowledge that they were, contrary to popular belief, _not_ invulnerable.

In essence, the academy teachers were the most important part of the village. Their sole responsibility was to rapidly and efficiently turn out Genin, the universal building block for a hidden village. If the teachers were to straightforward with the truth, there would be no Genin produced that year. On the other hand, if they built up their Genin's confidence to high, they would churn out worthless ninja, and the Genin that year would most likely be killed before they could correct their teacher's mistake.

The academy teachers walked a dangerous line between making their students 'too stupid' as apposed to 'just stupid enough.' So, while they did teach the Genin about the dangers of emotions or hinted at what would be expected of them, most of what was taught ended up buried beneath layers of idle praise and half-truths.

Academy teachers would often say things like "so and so was a true hero. He/she built their clan up from nothing, became a great ninja, kissed babies, helped old people across the street, and most importantly didn't flee from battle even after Rock/Cloud/Sand/Wave proclaimed 'Give up! All your base are belong to us!' This kind of drivel usually punctuated at the end by a phrase like; 'and guess what? They were just like you! Now who wants to kick the crap out of each other in the weekly spar?'

That was just the way things had to be.

Thinly veiled propaganda was passed off as history or social studies. Desensitizing children to violence was seen and accepted as a normal part of a ninja's training. Anyone foreign to the village was immediately categorized as savage barbarians who sought to destroy everything that they held dear. While it seemed cruel to essentially brainwash naïve and impressionable kids into being child soldiers, it was just a way of life. The only thing that their teachers could do was hope that their students would remember the important parts instead of the fluff and filler.

After Naruto's not so gentile announcement that he was the Kyuubi, the most hated and feared enemy in the history of the Leaf, only Sasuke was able to remember his basic training. Though, it didn't do him much good.

He remembered that his anger made him stupid, but he couldn't bring himself to calm down. Remembered that his fear would hinder his abilities, but still he trembled before the demon. Remembered that pride was the ultimate killer of shinobi, yet couldn't shake the delusion that he would be the one who would finally kill the nine-tails. Sasuke's head remained attached to his neck at the end of the day only because his sensei kept an iron-like grip on his collar.

Reason abandoned him and he scrambled wildly against Jiraiya's restrictive hand in a vein attempt to escape. Naruto's crimson eyes adopted a mixture of vague amusement utter contempt as he watched the Uchiha struggle against the Sanin's grip. Sasuke clenched his fists, barely noticing when his nails cut bloody crescents in his palms, and began to thrash harder. Those loathsome red eyes held the exact same expression that Itachi's eyes did after he'd killed their family.

Naruto said nothing; having no need for such an unpleasant interaction when his insane grin and malicious eyes were speaking far more eloquently than he could ever attempt to. Judging by Sasuke's frantic motions, the message came across perfectly clear.

'You are trash. You will always be trash and there's nothing you can do about it. I could crush you into dust on a whim and nobody would be able to help you. You think you're powerful, but you're not. You think you can beat me, but you can't. You derive your pride from a bloodline that you don't even possess yet, leeching off the honor that your ancestors obtained and claiming it for yourself. How pitiful. Your brother was right not to dirty his hands with your blood.'

The worst part was, the boy was right.

He _would_ die if he tried to fight the demon vessel. Naruto _could_ destroy him on a passing fancy and no one would be able to save him. And what was truly horrible was this; he _didn't_ have his sharingan. In fact, it was possible that he would never develop his clan's famed kekkei genkai. According to the scrolls in the Uchiha compound, a little less than half of the clan was never able to unlock the sharingan. For Sasuke, the inability to activate his sharingan was his greatest failure. Everything rode on his bloodline, his future, his dream, everything.

For the second time in his life Sasuke found himself trapped under the wicked gaze of a scarlet eyed of a monster. And for the second time in his life, he was completely helpless.

Kiba was a different story entirely.

The boy neither remembered nor wished to remember his basic training. As the dead-last of the class, he only tuned in for the lessons where so and so kicked the asses of at least one hundred enemy ninja and when it was time for ninjutsu or taijutsu practice. With only the sugarcoated lies feed to him by Iruka-sensei, the Inuzuka was ill prepared to be a ninja; let alone look upon the face of the monster that killed his father. Ironically was Naruto's unimaginable killing intent, not logic, which saved Kiba's life that day.

Inuzuka are fiercely loyal to their pack mates. Family and friends were protected at all costs, and any death that befell clan would not go unavenged. For them, the Kyuubi's attack twelve years ago was an unspeakable evil; no clan had been scared more deeply by the nine-tails than the Inuzuka. Right now, the only thought that was going through Kiba's head was how to make the bastard fox suffer. His Inuzuka blood roiled at the thought of being so close to the creature that murdered his father. It demanded that he kill the boy, crush him, rip him to shreds, burn him to ash, anything in order to avenge his father's death!

However he couldn't. He could barely even breathe.

His Inuzuka side roared for the boy's blood but his primal instincts screamed at him to run away. Every muscle, every cell, every fiber of his being begged him to flee from this demon that stood before him. The jinchuuriki's killing intent was triggering literally every single defensive instinct in Kiba's body to go off at once, paralyzing him by the sheer overload of information. The boy couldn't have moved even if his life had depended on it.

However, his instincts played their part. Kiba walked away from training ground 56 alive.

Ino reacted in the most non-ninja way imaginable; she fainted.

For a ninja, fainting during battle was the ultimate dishonor. You could be knocked unconscious or pass out due to blood loss, but you would never _never_ faint like a spineless coward when presented with an opponent.

Especially if you were female.

The life of a kunoichi often made a shinobi's look tame by comparison. Not only were they expected to carry out all of the duties of a male ninja, complete with war, assassination, and low life expectancy, but they also had to handle seduction missions.

Seduction missions were the lowest of the low. A kunoichi was forced to give her body to an ugly, and often times violent man, in hopes that she'd be able to weasel a piece of information out of him. After completing this task, the men back in the village would avoid the seductress for a few weeks, regardless of the fact that the mission was absolutely necessary. And to top it all off, the pay sucked. After all, most seduction missions were C-ranked.

And if that wasn't bad enough, shinobi still had the gall to label them the weaker sex. Displays such as fainting only encouraged this idea; hence why no female ninja would ever find herself caught dead fainting like a frightened little girl.

While Ino's behavior was shameful, it wasn't entirely unexpected. At this stage in her ninja career, gender didn't even enter into the equation. A fresh from the academy Genin couldn't possibly have been prepared to deal with the killing intent of a jinchuuriki.

Especially the jailor of the nine-tails.

Naruto lazily eyed his godfather's team, snickering softly as the Uchiha continued to flail like a chicken with its head cut off. What an amusing little creature he was.

"It looks like I've outlived my welcome once again." He shook his head in mock embarrassment. "I simply must learn to contain my excitement whilst meeting new people. I'll never make any new friends if everyone I meet is so opposed to my foxy companion. I suppose that if I can't be all buddy buddy with your Genin team, I'll have to fill the horrible void in my soul with violent and destructive missions. Oh woe is me!" Naruto's face split into an evil grin. "I'll be seeing you soon Jiraiya." And with that, he flickered out of view.

XXXXXX

Getting his students under control proved to be an arduous task for the toad sage. Sasuke had been…unusually vocal about following the little blond killing machine even though he knew that he couldn't even compare to the boy. This suicidal behavior would make Jiraiya's job very interesting in the upcoming weeks. What good would a legendary Uchiha if he was bat-shit insane?

The Sannin couldn't understand it, but for some reason Sasuke felt the need to use Naruto as a measuring stick. Jiraiya had nothing against friendly rivalry, but this kind of reasoning was fundamentally flawed. The most noticeable aspect of this backwards logic was that even Jiraiya of the legendary Sannin ranked below his godson in terms of raw power. Comparing Sasuke to Naruto was like trying to compare an anthill with a mountain. And if that wasn't bad enough, the keeper of the nine-tails would be furious if he ever found out that the Uchiha thought himself a worthy opponent. To besmirch the demon vessels honor so blatantly would bring about destruction on an unimaginable scale. It would make the incident in Rice Country look like a joke.

Kiba was just as bad, if not worse than Sasuke. Contrary to the boy's usual bombastic personality he'd calmly asked when their training would begin. Even to an untrained civilian it would have been simple work to discern the Inuzuka's intentions. He was going to try to kill Naruto. Jiraiya just shook his head. Right now, the hermit could count those who were a match for his godson on his hands. After the boy had fully realized his potential, he would be completely invincible. Again, Kiba wasn't even on the boy's radar and, in all likelihood, never would be.

Thankfully Ino didn't follow the example of her teammates. She only signed on as a ninja because Sasuke-kun had become one. If it meant having to deal with an unstable demon vessel, so be it. However that didn't mean, by any stretch of the imagination, that she would openly challenge the boy in one on one combat just to impress the Uchiha. She'd be eaten alive! And so would Sasuke if he decided to challenge Naruto. The Uchiha was dreamy and cool, but this kid was a monster! Even the Yondaime, the strongest ninja in the history of Konoha, hadn't been able to defeat the Kyuubi. What possible chance did fresh Genin have against the beast that the fourth Hokage couldn't kill?

After he'd managed to get his Genin to calm down Jiraiya spoke. "Naruto," he locked eyes with each of his students. "is unlike anything you've ever encountered. He's not a boy, he's not your comrade, and he is _not_ to be trifled with." Kiba scoffed at this, causing Jiraiya to raise an eyebrow. "You don't believe me?" The toad Sannin pulled up his shirt, revealing a tangled mess of scars spider webbing across his chest.

His students eyes widened in shock.

"Take a good look at these; this is what you get when you tangle with a jinchuuriki. Your reward is pain." He let his shirt fall again. "None of you can fight him, no matter how much you hate him. You will respect him, even if you have to bite your tongue to do so. He will play with your mind and you will let him. He will strike you with his claws and you will not fight back. You will not provoke him in any way, because if you do so the entire village will pay for it. Do you understand me?"

Ino replied with shaky, "Hai, sensei" but her teammates made no move to acknowledge their teacher.

"Do you understand me, Genin?" Jiraiya repeated in a frigid voice.

"Yeah, yeah." Kiba mumbled. Sasuke just offered a 'hn' that could probably be construed as agreement before turning his eyes away from his teacher.

"Perfect." The Sannin growled dryly as he began to stand. "Let's begin your training."

XXXXXX

The process of being assigned a higher level mission, A-rank or S-rank, was more often than not an incredibly boring and convoluted procedure. Unless time was of the essence, accepting a dangerous mission could take anywhere between six hours to six days. There was paperwork, meetings with the client, strategizing, more paperwork, and last but not least, haggling over pay.

However, the rules could be bent if a jinchuuriki was the one asking for the mission. Nothing shaped clarity better than the threat of imminent death should the one receiving the mission become bored. When Naruto had barged into Sarutobi's office unannounced and demanded an A-rank mission, the old man had given it to him. After all, trying to reason with a bloodthirsty demon was like arguing philosophy with a brick wall. Idiotic.

Luckily the Sandaime had just the mission for the boy. It was an internal affairs matter which meant the destruction that Naruto would inevitably create would be, more or less, contained and wouldn't reflect poorly on Konoha. Nothing ruined a ninja village quicker than killing a client.

The boy's mission was simple; travel to a small town on the border of Fire Country and intercept a traitor leaf nin who'd stolen a valuable scroll in hopes that he could use it to barter passage into the village hidden in the sand. Of course Naruto didn't care one way or another as to the reason he was assassinating this rouge ninja, he just wanted to kill someone.

Overall the boy's interaction with the old Hokage was very favorable, but nevertheless Sarutobi still had one stipulation for the mission; sending along an ANBU babysitter. The jinchuuriki didn't seem to mind this new condition. After all, babysitter and sack lunch meant the same thing right?

XXXXXX

Traveling at top speed, it only took two days for the boy and his ANBU "consort" to reach the border of Fire Country. Near the end of their fist day of travel, it had begun to rain and even now, the foul weather persisted. While this rain was annoying, at least for the ANBU, it was ideal for an assassination. The clouds shrouded the light of the moon and the falling sheets of icy water obscured the target's vision. A target would be wrapped in perfect darkness, unaware of their imminent demise even after the assassin's blade was lodged firmly in their heart. Then the killer would melt like a wraith back into the rain and darkness.

That was the idea anyway.

Climbing to the edge of a small cliff the demon vessel came to an abrupt halt. Naruto adopted a low stance, gauging his target by using two of his fingers as make-shift sights. He appeared to do nothing, remaining perfectly still as rivulets of water fell from his statuesque body. He continued to aim into the darkness.

His ANBU escort growled impatiently, rain pelting audibly off of his porcelain mask. "What the hell are you doing demon? Your mark is going to be long gone if you don't stop wasting time."

The boy said nothing. He flexed his gloved hand, causing a large steel globe to materialize. He lowered his finger sights.

The bird mask hid its wearer's surprise. "You don't actually think you're able to hit him from here do you?"

Again the child said nothing.

The ANBU threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. "You're insane! I'm an ANBU scout and I can't even see the _town _that this guy is supposed to be staying in! How could you possibly think that you'll be able to hit him from up here! We're probably over two miles away!"

The jinchuuriki's eyes flared to life, cutting through the gloom and the rain as they raked across the distant village with their baleful crimson glow.

"Quiet." The boy bit out.

His ANBU babysitter mumbled something about how it wasn't his fault that the mission had failed and that the Hokage couldn't blame this one on him. Naruto shot him a look that promised death

"The noise will cease, or the killing will commence." He growled irritably.

The man fell silent.

Naruto turned back to the practically invisible town, and spoke as though he'd fallen into a trance.

"Target within interval of three mile range limit; shot deemed acceptable. Wind speed at approximately 2.8-3 miles per hour, compensate for interference with a rotational speed of 5.5-5.7 revolutions per second to the left. Negative gravitational acceleration and constant of thermal expansion accounted for. Correcting shot for the Coriolis effect, Magnus effect, and gyroscopic drift. Target is stationary and unsuspecting. Projectile air time estimated to be 7.2-7.25 seconds; percentage of lethal shot: 98.5%. Engaging to render target eternally **silent**."

The jinchuuriki's arm seemed to teleport into the throw, sending the steel ball barreling towards the village at unimaginable speeds. A deafening bang accompanied the shot; an after effect created by the lightning quick movement of the boy's arm. The concussive wave rippled through the tall grass and the falling rain, flattening the plant life near the epicenter of the blast and momentarily creating a crystal curtain out of the falling rain. The friction created by the Naruto's arm cutting through the air had lit the appendage on fire. The flaming cocoon hissed angrily as it was struck by the droplets earthbound water however the boy didn't even notice. Even when the flames began to slowly peel the flesh from his arm, he stood perfectly still. A look of malicious excitement slowly spread across his features as he continued to track the orb's trajectory.

XXXXXX

Matsogo sat on the bed in his hotel room as he watched the rain fall. He was having a good day, just a few more hours and he'd finally be in Wind Country, safe from the monster that plagued Konoha.

No Psychotic jinchuurikis to worry about in Suna, no sir.

Suddenly the man exploded. His head and torso appeared to have been liquefied completely on impact with the supersonic projectile, splattering messily across the walls of the hotel room. Absolutely nothing above his waist was identifiable; bones, organs, and muscle had melted together into an unrecognizable soup that now painted the room. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Matsogo was dead.

So much for disappearing unnoticed back into the rain.

XXXXXX

Naruto smirked. "Target has fallen silent. Mission accomplished."

He slowly extended his claws as he turned around. "But you don't care, do you ANBU-san? Because you're already dead aren't you?"

The boy finished turning around and learned that his previous statement was correct; the man was dead. Headless in fact.

The jinchuuriki shifted his attention to the cloaked figures that murdered his babysitter. A large oddly shaped man with something wrapped in bandages on his back, and a smaller man with glowing red eyes stared back at him.

The boy couldn't hold back his maniacal grin. "Come come now, you two. I of all people can understand a flare for the theatrical, however there's a fine line to tread between a dramatic entrance and out-and-out rudeness. Wouldn't you agree; Uchiha Itachi, Hoshigaki Kisame?"

Neither figure replied. Kisame hoisted the bandaged object from his back and Itachi's sharingan began to spin wildly.

Naruto clicked his tongue in mock scolding. "So rude, but I guess it can't be helped. In that case I ask you, Uchiha Itachi, Hoshigaki Kisame." Five flaming tails began to swing behind the boy.

"**Will your flesh satisfy my hunger?**"


	8. Blood in the rain

**An**: Fuck.

Sorry about the wait guys, I've been insanely busy with other stuff. What started out as simple writer's block somehow morphed into this crazy snowball of procrastination. I took a vacation in the faggy world of online CoD modern warfare2 and then another one in the significantly less faggy world of Red dead redemption. Then I graduated. Then I inroled in summer classes. Then School got out. One of my friends is joining the military and I'm taking classes during the summer so expect updates to come maybe once every two weeks. Again sorry, but collage and hanging out with a friend i may never see again trumps writing this story.

Speaking of which; Holy shit! I never expected this thing to become so popular. You guys are awesome! 10000 hits in a little over a month and almost 100 reviews is great for this being my first story. This chapter was a pain in the ass to write but I think it turned out alright. If you like it or have some friendly advice send me a review.

Oh and if anyone is willing to be my Beta reader; please feel free to shoot me a PM or a review or something.

Hope you like the chapter.

* * *

Sheets of frigid rain fell unrelentingly from the sky as the trio of ninja continued to stare at one another. The opponents locked eyes again and again, ruby on ruby, then ruby on ichthyoid, daring the other side to make the first move. Waves of killing intent radiated from the three S-rank nin, mingling with the darkness and the falling rain, saturating the clearing with its malevolent presence.

Naruto's lips peeled back, revealing the boy's cruel fangs in an insane mockery of what humans would describe as a smile. His expression held no mirth what so ever; quite the opposite in fact. It was a look of sadistic excitement and bloodlust, a pale impersonation of human emotion.

This would be it.

This would be the battle that validated his existence. This would be the moment that defined his life. He would do battle with the pair of infamous nuke nin. The ninja would kill each other; stripping muscle from bone and until naught was left but hollow shells of twisted flesh in a macabre attempt to rip the life out of the opposing side.

The jinchuuriki's heart began to pound in anticipation, his five blistering tails thrashing at the ground behind him. Across the field from him stood the ultimate prey; if he was able to bring them down, he would feast on the sweetest meat imaginable. The blond began to salivate at the thought of it.

Or better yet, they would kill him.

Finally his nightmarish existence of eternal boredom and disappointment would be over. No more would he have to search for a worth opponent. No more would his existence be meaningless. If Kisame and Itachi cut him down in battle, if he died violently and painfully in this unnamed field, torn in two with his blood mingling in the mud and rain water; he would finally be happy. He could think of no other end more befitting for a demon than this.

Again Naruto's eyes flicked to Kisame. The Kiri nin's eyes held an identical malice within them, a cold animalistic hunger that only fellow monsters could understand. The missing nin's shark-like grin threatened to split his face in half, reviling row after row of large jagged teeth. Even in the suffocating darkness, the jinchuuriki's demonic eyes could clearly make out the shape of the swordsman's muscles straining through his sodden cloak; begging him to do battle with young boy.

The boy's eyes shifted again, this time landing on Itachi. The Uchiha was much less interesting to look at when compared with his towering partner. His sharingan eyes continued to spin slowly, conveying a subtle danger with their hypnotic rotations. The man's face remained perfectly neutral, apparently unperturbed by the massive amount of killing intent generated by the blond and his own sharky accomplice. He stood statuesque, tranquil. Even in the midst of two dangerous creatures sizing each other up for the approaching clash his face didn't betray a thing. Itachi simply stood there, waiting.

"Itachi?" The deep and slightly trembling voice of Kisame asked.

The man continued to stare unblinkingly at their target. "Hm?"

"Clear me to engage the target. I don't care if your plan is half done and I don't care about collateral, just clear me to engage."

Though Itachi's face didn't show it, the Kiri swordsman had surprised him. The Akatsuki had strict rules about nearly everything with the foremost being the rules of engagement. Collateral damage of any kind, though often necessary, was unacceptable. Their organization had to remain in the shadows and as such, they afford the luxury of running wild. However, this wasn't what surprised him. What surprised him was the tone of voice that Kisame used. The shark man had _ordered_ Itachi to clear him for combat.

Akatsuki was an extremely rigid organization. Operatives were always paired in teams of two, no more no less, consisting of a senior member and a junior member. Out in the field, the senior's word was unbreakable unquestionable law. If the junior failed to follow the orders of their senior, no matter how trivial, Leader-sama would punish them. Severely. For Kisame, the junior, to give an order to Itachi, the senior, was something unheard of. The very notion was almost insulting enough to warrant the use of the tsukuyomi.

"No." Itachi deadpanned. "And be wary of your tone Kisame. Were we alone, I would not hesitate to remind you of your place."

The monster of the mist just grinned wider as he finished unwrapping the bandages that constrained his sword.

"Sorry senpai. I'll accept my punishment after the fight."

The eyes of the normally stoic Uchiha narrowed in anger. Nothing he could say would stop the blood hungry shark-man now. Trapping the swordsman in the tsukuyomi would be somewhat detrimental to their current situation, and killing him outright would be just as ill advised. Itachi was powerless against his partner's stupidity; a situation that he'd hoped to have been rid of after leaving ANBU.

"Go." He whispered dangerously.

Kisame shot across the field at speeds seemingly impossible for man of his size, his beloved Samehada trailing behind him as though it were made of paper.

Upon seeing this, the demon vessel let loose an earsplitting roar. Dropping to all fours, the boy seemed to vanish, creating a trail of smoldering grass and charred earth as he closed in on his newest prey.

Under normal circumstances, the Kiri nin wouldn't even be able to see the jinchuuriki due to the speed at which the boy was moving. But at night, Naruto's five-tailed chakra cloak lit up in the darkness like a signal flare. The shark-man planted his foot on the slick grass, and without even waiting to completely stop, swung his blade.

Samehada intercepted the crimson blur with sickening force, stopping it dead. However that was all that the Kiri swordsman managed to accomplish.

Instead of doing what most people did after being struck by the legendary sharkskin, ie. rocket uncontrollably through the air, the demon child did the unthinkable.

He absorbed the hit.

His claws formed a cross-hatch web as they connected with the sword, and although his legs nearly buckled under the force of the swing, he was able to remain standing.

Though the very notion seemed impossible, Naruto, through brute strength alone, had managed to block Kisame's massive sword.

If the Kiri nuke-nin was surprised, his face didn't show it. With practiced ease he adjusted his stance, flipping his grip in the process so that he could take advantage of Samehada's long handle, before levering the giant blade downward on the boy.

Naruto grit his teeth as the swordsman slowly but surely began to overpower him.

The demon vessel twisted out of the way, causing his opponent to lurch forward at the sudden loss of resistance and inadvertently bury Samehada in the soft muddy ground. Caught off guard, the monster of the mist was forced to momentarily abandon his weapon in order to dodge a head level swing from the boy's razor sharp claws.

The child missed and consequentially overshot his target by a fairly large margin. He landed, and was forced to immediately duck as Kisame's colossal weapon passed through the space where his torso previously was. He weaved through the Kiri-nin's unnaturally quick strikes with the grace of an acrobat, dodging every single swing effortlessly, dancing around his much larger opponent. Playing with him.

The nuke-nin mistimed one of his strikes, and the demon container immediately exploited it.

After a running lunge, the jagged blade hung in the air for a fraction of a second to long, just enough time for Naruto's claws to latch on. The jinchuuriki slammed the sword into the ground before lashing with his five immolated tails at the flat footed Kisame. The burning appendages knifed through the air at incredible speeds, whipping and spearing all around the still madly grinning shark-man.

The swordsman had to admit, this kid was good.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that Kisame was the muscle of the operation. His thick muscles, huge stature, and colossal weapon screamed "I'm a close combat freak! Let me crush your skull!" However that was the only function he could play.

As the role of a tank, all of these traits were a boon, but in any other situation, they were a severe drawback. The swordsman's considerable bulk hindered his ability to doge, forcing him to rely on his thick hide and sturdy bones to protect him in combat. But when facing an opponent like a jinchuuriki, not even his stout defenses would be able to shield him from the beast's punishing blows. Already, the blonde's talons had torn across his torso multiple times, each time striking closer and closer to the mist nin's vitals.

With the path between him and his weapon barred, Kisame was beginning to become slightly nervous. Coupled with Samehada, his size was a deadly weapon, but without the blade, it just made him a giant target.

The shark-man roared in pain and frustration as Naruto's claws once again raked across his chest, carving deep angry wounds into his blue flesh. He lashed out blindly, scoring a lucky punch on the boy with enough force behind the blow to tear a normal man's head off.

Though disoriented, and in a considerable amount of pain, the demon child was able to spin into a clumsy landing. As soon as he touched down, the boy found himself on the defensive; flipping away from the thorny blade as Samehada nearly ripped him in two.

Again the boy landed, only this time when he hit the ground, pain exploded from his shoulder. He lashed out at the phantom assailant, only to be blindsided by the shark-man's newly reclaimed weapon.

Naruto sailed through the inky sky; a bolt of lightning revealing the boy's mutilated left arm and an arc of blood trailing behind him.

The blonde's injured body struck the ground with a wet squelch, and for a moment he didn't move. Waves of excruciating pain flared throughout the demon vessel's ruined arm, the mass of tattered muscle seemingly unable to heal itself.

Suddenly the jinchuuriki was on his feet, cackling wildly as his fishy opponent began close the distance between them. He flexed his uninjured right hand, conjuring a metal ball into existence and targeting the swordsman's head. But as soon as the shot was lined up, another spectral blade entered his body.

Only this time it struck his perforated arm.

The pain was unimaginable. Naruto howled in rage, swinging his tails violently in hopes of crushing the unseen opponent behind him. Even though it felt like fire was lancing though his arm, the boy didn't forget about his target. With an earsplitting bang, the heavy cannonade was sent rocketing through the air towards the charging swordsman.

The supersonic projectile connected with Kisame's forearm, splintering the shark-man's thick bones with an ease that suggested that they were made of toothpicks. The force behind the impact was more than enough to send him sprawling face first onto the wet ground.

Across the battlefield, Itachi's sharingan eyes widened. To the traitor Uchiha, time had all but stopped, giving him a clear view of the incoming cannonball that was streaking towards him.

He dodged, dropping to his knees and sliding forward though the mud as the heavy steel ball missed the top of his head by, literally, a hair's breadth.

The ex leaf-nin immediately knew that he wouldn't be able to draw out this battle. Against the host of the nine-tails the duo's normal strategy, trapping the opponent in a genjutsu and letting Kisame beat the crap out of them, would be of no use. For starters, the boy had already inflicted a crippling injury on his partner. Without the use of his arm, the swordsman would be hard-pressed to beat the boy unless he merged with Samehada. And even then, the prospects looked bleak.

The wounds that his shadow clones had been inflicting on the boy were being healed almost instantaneously. Even that last strike to the boy's heavily wounded arm didn't seem to do anything. Any other ninja would have fallen to the ground unconscious from the pain, or at the very least stutter in their next attack. But Naruto had barely even flinched. It seemed that the only thing that Itachi had managed to do was piss the jinchuuriki off.

The drawback that came with their two man Akatsuki cell could only be exploited under such a selective set of parameters that it was though to be nonexistent.

And yet here he was, dead in the water.

The impossible had happened, Kisame, the monster of the hidden mist, had been rendered practically useless due to his shattered forearm and Itachi didn't have the skills necessary to incapacitate the demon child. At least not without damaging his eyes no end.

Genjutsu was completely ineffective against the demon container. During the trio's little staring contest at the beginning of the fight, the Uchiha had cast no less than twenty different genjutsus on the boy. Every single one of them had been broken before they even had a chance to take hold, and the scary part was that the boy didn't even seem to be consciously releasing the illusions.

With his ace in the hole gone, Itachi was forced to rely on his taijutsu skills. However the jinchuuriki had managed to rob him of that skill as well. The simple fact of the matter was that Naruto's veil of demonic energy was far too potent come into direct contact with. In fact with the amount of red chakra he was releasing, the Uchiha was surprised that the boy was still breathing let alone fighting.

Ninjutsu was still available to the Konoha nuke-nin but it didn't make much of a difference. The large majority of the jutsu that he knew were area of effect jutsu. Not only would they draw an obscene amount of attention to their little battle, but he would also catch his partner in the crossfire.

With all other venues closed off, Itachi was forced to use his ultimate trump card.

As the sharingan wielder pirouetted out of the path of a second steel ball he was able to briefly lock eyes with his opponent. Their crimson orbs met only for a fraction of a second, but that was all the time Itachi needed to seal the boy's fate.

A horrible burning sensation took hold of Itachi's right eye, as though someone had splashed a phial of caustic liquid into his face. Blood began to drip down the side of his face and his vision blurred out of focus.

"Tsukuyomi."

Itachi's eyes flashed into a shuriken design and abruptly Naruto found himself bolted to an iron crucifix. The jinchuuriki roared in pain as the weight of his body began to crack the stake impaled bones of his arms and legs. But even amid the torturous pain a twisted grin spread across his face.

"Time to meet something scary." He chuckled.

The demon child snapped his head up, meeting eyes with floating figure of Uchiha Itachi.

"This is the realm of the tsukuyomi." He drawled disinterestedly as he slowly drove a ninjato into the chest of the suspended boy.

Though his teeth clenched at the pain, the grin didn't fade from the blonde's face.

"Here I am god. Here I control all things. For the next 72 hours you will roam the darkest depths of your nightmares." He finished burying the blade into the growling child and drew another from his cloak.

As the second blade neared him, the boy unexpectedly burst into hysterical laughter. Itachi's eyes narrowed in anger as he rammed the sword into his prisoner, but instead of silencing him, the child's psychotic laughter only grew louder.

"Itachi," the demon vessel rasped, undeterred by the droplets of blood that had begun to fall from his mouth. "You seem to be gravely mistaken about who is god in this place."

A sharp crack was heard as the bones in Naruto's arms suddenly gave way. Yet the boy didn't even seem to feel the pain; his malicious grin only widened. "**You're a very long way from home, Uchiha Itachi.**"

An abrupt pain exploded in the Uchiha's skull, and behind his closed eyes tiny white light flickered and danced. He opened his mouth to cry out in surprise only for his mouth to fill with putrid tasting water. Itachi recoiled from the taste on instinct, unintentionally breaching the surface of the shallow water.

The sharingan wielder's mind was a storm of questions; the foremost of these being "what happened?" and "where am I?"

Of these two questions, the latter was much easier to answer. The shin-high murky green water, the labyrinth of pipes running overhead, the soft trickle of distant drainage conduits; he was in a sewer. A rather large and sinister sewer, but a sewer nonetheless.

His first question never got the chance to be answered.

As Itachi got to his feet he heard a sound that made his blood run as cold as ice.

Laughter. Menacing, inhuman, earth shattering laughter. Laughter that he he'd only heard once in his life twelve years ago on the darkest day in Konoha's history.

The laughter of the Kyuubi.

In front of him the water began to froth and steam, lit by an evil reddish light submerged just below the water's surface. A blast of searing mist momentarily blinded the Uchiha, and the next moment the man found himself staring upon the ever grinning visage of his demonic opponent.

"**This is the realm of the Kyuubi; the domain of the nine-tailed king. Here we are god. Here we control all things.**"

The laughter crescendoed, igniting the surface of the water through some unseen means and the boy's figure was quickly consumed. However his demonic voice continued to echo throughout the sewer.

"**For the next 72 hours you will roam the deepest depths of any nightmare that I can imagine. Welcome to Hell, Uchiha Itachi!**"

The curtain of superheated fog dispersed, slowly unveiling the colossal form of the nine-tailed fox. Its face slowly stretched into grin, mimicking its jailor's cruel expression almost exactly as the beast slowly brought its head towards Itachi's petrified body.

"**Little Uchiha,**" It began to chuckle softly. "**Let's play.**"


	9. Seven of nine

**AN**: Sorry again for the delay you guys, I really hope that I don't make a habit of this. School has been...interesting to say the least, and has been taking up a great deal of my time. I honestly do feel bad about the substantial wait time between chapters so I'm going to try to update again before the end of the month. Thanks for all the hits, favorites, reviews, ect. it's nice to know that my work is appreciated. I'm not very sure about the actions scenes, so any feedback would be a big help to me.

I still need a beta. If anyone is interested in being one, send me a message.

This is a little question I have for you: How would you kill demon Naruto? (trust me. it's relevant.)

* * *

Pain.

All he knew was pain.

Itachi reeled forward; unable to even think, let alone stand in the midst of this mind numbing torture. His head struck the unyielding floor of the sewer with a sickening crack, leaking a splash of crimson into the murky green water. Submerged beneath the rapidly expanding halo of blood and putrid water, the Uchiha's sharingan eyes spun wildly, vainly trying to break the illusionary world that their master was trapped in but unable to do so.

Itachi could move, couldn't breathe, couldn't even scream due to the horrible amount of _pain_ he was in. His fingers twitched sporadically, struggling desperately to latch on to something, a lever, switch, a cyanide pill, anything to put an end to this unholy torment.

A sticky mixture of blood and fragments of tongue began to seep from Itachi's gaping mouth; the nuke nin unconsciously shredding the organ in an attempt to make the pain stop.

His ANBU training did nothing to numb the pain. There was no happy place he could retreat to, no pocket of solace that he could hide within, no escape from the undiluted agony that now coursed through his veins.

He couldn't escape into the depths of his mind because he was already there. All of his mental blocks were crushed to dust by the fury of the nine-tailed king, swept away as though they were constructed from sand or ash. The Kyuubi had brought him to his knees effortlessly. It was killing him without even touching him.

The Uchiha's body began self destruct. His bones splintered within his body, simply unable to bare the strain that the man's own muscles were exerting on them. Tendons and ligaments snapped under the tension, tearing themselves away from Itachi's ruined skeleton in sharp jerky movements. He grit his teeth until they shattered, again causing a gory soup to once again pour from his mouth.

Amidst the indescribable torment only one thought remained anchored in Itachi's mind.

'_Kami please, let me die_.'

The mantra echoed inside his mind over and over again, as unceasing and unrelenting as the suffering that wracked his body. Itachi's mind was instinctively trying to destroy itself in order to spare its host from any further pain.

'_Kami please, let me die_.'

Darkness claimed him. Whether his optic nerve had been severed or his prayers had been answered, he didn't know. The darkness seemed soft and safe.

It was quiet now. No more frantic splashing as his nails clawed at the floor. No more rushing of blood in his ears. No more cracking of bones, no more tearing of muscle, no more pain.

Silence.

Solace.

Death.

A feather soft voice whispered in his ear. "Wake up Itachi."

The Uchiha smiled at the voice's naïve suggestion.

'_I can't hear you silly voice; I'm dead_.'

The soothing voice was suddenly replaced by roaring laughter and Itachi's eyes snapped open. Staring back at him from no more than three feet away was the colossal grinning visage of the Kyuubi.

"**But Uchiha, if you're dead then how are we talking?**" the demon questioned with a mocking child-like innocence.

Itachi fell to his knees, trembling in anguish. It wasn't fair! He was dead, he'd escaped from the fox!

"Not again." He whispered brokenly, "Please don't hurt me again."

The Kyuubi's eyes glittered with malice.

"**71 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds little Uchiha.**"

XXXXXX

Both Naruto and Itachi fell to the ground. The former managed to catch himself, panting in exertion as he worked his way up to an unsteady base. The latter struck the ground like a sack of bricks, unresponsive.

Broken.

From where he knelt, the jinchuuriki could clearly see the amount of damage that his prisoner had inflicted on the sharingan wielder's mind. Itachi's sharp, calculating eyes where now dull and dead; more closely resembling the eyes of a doll than a living breathing man. Aside from the occasional twitch, the nuke nin's body remained unnaturally still.

If one were speaking scientifically, Itachi would still be considered to be alive. His heart continued to beat, his lungs continued to breathe, and his chakra network still circulated his life force. But all it took was a single look into Itachi's legendary eyes to realize he was dead.

The omniscient _they_ once said that a person's eyes were the windows to their soul; reflected in the Uchiha's eyes was nothing. His brain still functioned but his mind was shattered. _Itachi_ was gone, but the earthly chuck of meat that people knew as Itachi remained.

With a furious growl, Naruto plunged his claws into the ground.

How! How could the pride of the fabled Uchiha clan die so easily! How could this happen! Again he'd been robbed of his existence. Again he'd done battle with a supposedly worthy opponent, only to be met with bitter disappointment.

Again the wheel of pain had been turned.

Amid the storm of anger and disbelief that raged in the boy's mind came a small nagging feeling; like he had forgotten something.

It was a thunderous punch to the temple that finally rid the demon vessel of his amnesia.

Kisame.

He skidded across the slick ground, unable to recover from the first blow in time to dodge the second. Five knife-like claws entered the boy, carving a series of deep bloody gashes across his back.

Naruto roared in anger, tails whipping blindly at the source of his pain, striking nothing but open air.

Again the hammer-like fist connected with his head, and again the boy was sent flying. Strobes of multicolored light danced across his vision as he flew into the air, creating a technicolor nightmare which served only to accentuate the throbbing pain that now coursed through his head.

Naruto knew of no word which could aptly describe the force behind the shark-man's blow. It had felt like a building had collapsed on top of him; nothing had ever hit him with such horrific power before! Which was most likely the reason why Naruto had never before felt such overwhelming excitement.

'_Yes Hoshigaki Kisame. You are worthy of my claws. Your flesh will satisfy my hunger._'

The jinchuuriki twisted in mid-flight and touched down, driving up a spray of earth on impact. He hooked his claws into the ground, slowing his out of control momentum just enough so that he could roll into a low crouch and face his assailant.

For the first time in a very long time, Naruto was surprised.

Looking back at him was the hulking figure of Kisame. The Kiri nin seemed to be more shark than man now. Two large fin-like appendages extended from his arms with a third running down the length of his back. His whole head had changed, becoming sleeker and more streamline, jutting slightly forward in order to better utilize his massive crushing jaws. Wicked saber-like claws extended from the tips of his fingers, and a transparent membrane connected the digits to one another; like the feet of a frog.

However all of these features were quickly forgotten when the demon child caught sight of his opponent's powerful tail.

It swished slowly, menacingly, behind the Kiri nin; an action that made Naruto's body cry out for the swordsman's blood.

Kisame was a monster, a demon.

Something like him.

The boy's tails began to mimic the motions of his enemy's. They slowly swept back and forth across the ground behind him; challenging Kisame, encouraging him to attack.

A look of psychotic glee seeped into the Kyuubi jinchuuriki's face.

"**Kill me.**"

The nuke nin needed no further encouragement. He crossed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, his wrecking ball fist once again aiming at Naruto's head.

The boy vanished in a flash of crimson mere seconds before the blow connected, and a sudden pain lanced across the shark-man's face. Kisame's eyes darted around wildly in vain hopes of finding his invisible foe. A flicker of scarlet was the only warning he had before the demon vessel's talons embedded themselves into his side. Kisame roared in anger. His hand shot forward, clamping down on the jinchuuriki's neck with horrendous force.

Naruto's eyes went wide as his windpipe gave way with a wet crunch. The Kiri nin whipped his body into the ground again and again, as though he were little more than a rag doll caught in the grasp of a sadistic child. The shark-man pinned him to the ground and readied the claws on his massive hand for the killing blow.

And then, suddenly Kisame was on the defensive.

Naruto's flaming tails tore into his opponent's body, their demonic energy burning large rotting holes into the nuke nin's hide.

Kisame acted on reflex, viciously backhanding the boy in an attempt to escape from his lethal tails. However, luck seemed smiling down on Kisame. The jarring impact of the blow given the Kiri swordsman just enough time to escape from his foe's fiendish tendrils.

The grievous wounds that littered the shark-man's torso slowly began to heal, though the pain still lingered. Apparently the little bastard's tails inflicted damage on the soul, Kisame would most likely deal with this pain until the day he died. He shot a backwards glance at the rapidly healing boy. And if he couldn't figure out a way to put the jinchuuriki down, that day would arrive much sooner than he had anticipated.

The sound of quiet laughter floated past the nuke nin's ears and a smile slowly began to creep across his face.

This kid was good.

The laughter slowly intensified until it erupted into an echoing symphony of psychotic laughter.

"**Excellent. Excellent! I haven't felt so alive in ages! Again Kisame, kill me again!**"

The swordsman turned, hands blurring through seals.

"Water release: Grand waterfall jutsu!"

"**Fire release: Fire dragon missile jutsu!**"

The union between fire and water could only be properly described by one word.

Catastrophic.

The nearby town was completely annihilated, consumed by the advancing wall of water, smothered beneath the thousand ton wave. All manner of plant life crumbled into fragile chunks of ash in the presence of this unholy supernova before being swept up by never ending wave. The laws of nature seemed to abandon this spectacle. Flames continued to burn beneath the dome of water. Waves rejected the laws of gravity, bent into inaction by a sinister will. The world dissolved into wasteland of steam. This was a submarine voyage to hell. This was a thing that should not be.

And shielded from the eyes of Kami beneath the veil of steam, the demons fought.

They were animals, wild dogs whose unquenchable lust for the enemy's blood had blinded them to thought and reason. Tactics were abandoned, strategy was meaningless, and any semblance of form was cast aside as the monsters ripped into one another with teeth and talons.

Naruto materialized out the mist, slamming his blood drenched claws into the shark-man's chest again and again, hardly noticing the deep jagged gashes that had been inflicted upon his own body.

It was unfathomable pain that finally halted the demon container's assault.

Kisame's massive jaws slammed shut on the boy's shoulder, severing the jinchuuriki's entire arm in a torrential spray of gore. Naruto roared in agony, which only caused the monster of the mist to tighten his hold on the child.

The Kyuubi vessel shifted his attack, his claws jack-hammering through Kisame's neck in a shower of blood and tissue. The Kiri nin recoiled in shock, unintentionally releasing the boy from his jaws in the process.

Now that he was free Naruto could inflict some serious damage.

He vanished into the fog, distancing himself from the swordsman in order to maximize the effectiveness of his next attack. When he took aim with this jutsu, taking cover behind a mountain wouldn't be able to save his target. And then suddenly it hit him; his gloves were gone.

On two separate occasions Naruto's arms had been ripped from his torso; the first by Samehada and the other just now. And while his arms may have regenerated, his gloves didn't.

His thoughts were brutally interrupted as Kisame's knee collided with his jaw.

Instinctively the jinchuuriki torqued his body in an attempt to land on his feet, but to his great surprise (and mild panic) he realized he couldn't move. He was trapped within a globe of water, his body held stationary by the water's crushing pressure. His burning eyes widened when they locked with those of the Kiri nin below him. The cruel light inside the shark-man's eyes told him everything.

Kisame was going to drown him.

For the first time in his life Naruto felt fear. True fear juxtaposed by true happiness. The human side of his mind screamed at him to do something, anything, to avoid the cold grasp of the Shinigami. His demon side screamed at him too, but for a very different reason.

If he was going to die here, Kisame would die as well.

The demon vessel wracked his oxygen deprived brain for an answer; it didn't disappoint. They had pit their bodies against one another in a test to see whose broke first, now they would do the same with their minds.

Ivory flames erupted from the child's mouth, enveloping his form entirely, and instantly the aquatic prison began to boil. Kisame grit his teeth at the blistering pain that shot through his arm, it felt like he'd submerged his hand in magma instead of water. His initial reaction was to tear his hand from the sphere of frothing water, but he knew that he couldn't.

This would be his only chance to defeat the demon boy.

The jinchuuriki hosting the nine-tails was practically invulnerable; however the key word was practically. Apparently even a demon has to breathe.

The whole scene was disturbingly beautiful. Kisame's hand plunged into a sphere of immaculate radiance, it's soft luminescence reflecting off of the surrounding raindrops, making it appear that a million diamonds were falling from the sky.

It was serene. It was perfect.

It hurt like motherfucker!

Kisame tore his hand from the orb of molten moonlight; revealing that his flesh and muscle had been melted completely. Without the swordsman's influence, the water prison immediately evaporated and boy fell to the ground; haggard and groggy but still alive.

The kneeling Naruto grinned darkly as he stumbled to his feet and began advancing on his opponent.

"**You have fought better then I'd ever imagined. You are truly worthy of my claws, Hoshigaki Kisame.**" Naruto's grin wavered. "**It's truly a shame that I have to kill you now.**"

A small smirk settled on the Kiri nin's face. "Don't feel to bad about it. I have a hunch that you won't even touch me."

The jinchuuriki cast an amused look at the monster of the mist; a look that was soon replaced by anger.

"Amaterasu."

Naruto found his path bared by a wall of ebony fire, and a sense of mounting frustration overcame the demon container at the prospect of being robbed of his kill by a man who was supposed to be dead.

Crimson eyes met, and a ghost of a smile played across Itachi's face.

"**I killed you.**"

"Apparently not." the Uchiha deadpanned.

Naruto could almost feel his patience withering. "**I saw the look in you eyes when you fell to the ground. You were dead.**"

"Shadow clone."

"**And the collision of our jutsu**?"

"Susanoo."

The child simply nodded as he continued to eye the wall of fire.

'_**Fucking Uchihas**__.'_

"**So what now Uchiha Itachi? Are we simply going to stare at each other for seven days and seven nights until the ebon flames of Amaterasu die out?**"

"No. We are going to retreat." And with that both, Itachi and his mutilated partner shot off into the mist.

Naruto's remained motionless, paralyzed by unthinkable rage.

"**Don't run.**" he whispered hollowly as his glowing eyes continued to track the rapidly retreating heat signatures of his prey.

His chest heaved, his heart thundered in his ears, his tails struck the ground behind him furiously.

"**Don't run!"**

A cyclone of ruby chakra exploded from the the boy, condensing into seven flickering tails.

"**Why are you running!**" flecks of foam began to fall from his mouth. "** Don't run!**"

The jinchuuriki's tails slammed against the ground one final time before lashing forwards towards the child's mouth. A vivacious plume of crimson light flared into existence within the boy's gaping jaws, crackling with a fury that only its creator could rival. Sparks of black light danced across the orb's surface, eclipsing the scarlet sphere until nothing but darkness remained.

"**Seven-tailed menacing ball!**"

It was like witnessing the birth of a second sun. The foggy wasteland was swallowed beneath an ocean of light and fire, utterly consumed by the flames of inky garnet. Sky met earth, and all things dissolved into a nightmarish realm of shadow and flame. Hurricane force winds leveled what remained, their actions seemingly guided by an evil master.

There was no life in the void, only death.

A malefic grin spread across Naruto's face as he surveyed his handy work, but as the midnight flames began to die down, his face twisted into a mask of hellish rage.

They had lived.

The spectral form of Susanoo wavered out of existence and Itachi fell to the ground, tears of blood leaking from his patternless sharingan eyes. Itachi was blind. All around the Uchiha, shards of silver glass clattered to the earth; shattered remnants of the unbreakable mirror, the Yata no Kagami. Not even the legendary shield of Susanoo could stand against the might of the nine-tailed fox.

Kisame had escaped from the attack unscathed due to his partner's interference. To Naruto, this only lead insult to injury. Not only did he fail to kill the fleeing pair, but he also wasn't even able to touch his true prey. His attack was for nothing!

A mirthless chuckle floated out of the jinchuuriki's mouth. "**Still alive?**"

The boy's tails slowly began to move back towards his mouth. "**Allow me to remedy that.**"

A voice as cold and unyielding as steel sounded from behind him.

"Shinra tensei."

Naruto eyes widened in shock as pain exploded throughout his entire being. It was as if some vengeful god had reached out of the heavens and backhanded him. He was sent rocketing into the air at incredible speeds, cutting through the sky like a bullet. With a sickening crack he struck the ground, the impact of which broke nearly every single bone in his body. The sharp stone of the earth tore into his body, pealing great strips of flesh from him with every subsequent impact.

He didn't know how far he'd been thrown, and he didn't care. Only one thought lingered within the boy's mind before darkness claimed him.

He had been defeated.


	10. The perfect weapon

**AN**: As always, sorry for the ridiculous wait for the new chapter, life is getting in the way yet again. To those who care: let me assure you that I will finish this story. It will probably take a year or two at this rate but I will finish this story. The next update might come a little sooner than usual because I have a two week break before fall semester begins, but nothing is certain. When fall semester begins... shit is gonna get dicey. Chapters will probably take even longer to turn out, but I'm hoping not. Anyway, thanks for all the support thus far and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

PS: I know the perfect girl for psycho fox. Let's just say it's a rare pairing.

* * *

Pein's eyes narrowed in anger as they took in the scene of hellacious destruction that now stretched before him.

The ground, once soft and green, had been baked into a sheet of solid rock. Trees had been incinerated entirely, leaving behind hollow carapaces of charcoal and ash; crumbled shadows that would forever mar this land. Deep chasms of fire littered the surface of the wasteland. Labyrinthine. An infernal web, born of an infernal father. The corruption of this land was absolute. Even the air that he breathed was dead and burning; a poisonous fume laced with the potent energy of the nine-tailed fox.

As his eyes settled on the broken forms of Itachi and Kisame, the Ame nin's face contorted into a scowl.

They had disobeyed him.

In Akatsuki, rules were written in stone. They could not be bent and they could not be argued. They were absolute, and the punishment for breaking the Akatsuki's creed was severe.

But to break _his_ rule, _his_ creed, was to incur the wrath of a god.

They were criminals. Scum. Traitors and murderers who were not even fit to look upon him let alone serve him. He had taken them in, sheltered and protected them, and this is how they chose repay him; by undermining and destroying all that he was trying to create.

Kisame, had he the chance, would've killed the vessel of the nine-tails in spite of his specific orders that the jinchuuriki was to be captured alive.

This act angered the Amekage greatly but it didn't surprise him. Kisame was an intelligent creature, he could plan and reason, recognize logic and foresee consequences however any semblance of intelligence quickly evaporated when he was faced by a powerful opponent. The Kiri nin walked like a man but in his heart Kisame was just a monster. A predator driven to madness by the siren song of fresh blood.

However, Itachi's actions, or lack thereof, were completely inexcusable. He was the senior member, he was in command. If his junior was being insubordinate then the proper course of action would've been to strike him down. But instead the Uchiha allowed himself to be manipulated like a puppet, a marionette at the beck and call of its insane master. Itachi was weak.

And in Akatsuki, weakness was not tolerated.

Though in the darkest corner of his mind the rennigan wilder knew from whence his anger spawned.

He was jealous.

The battle between the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki and Kisame and torn this peaceful land asunder, cutting short countless lives in the process. Countless sinners.

For decades Konoha and its enemies had used his home as a battlefield, caring naught for the thousands of innocent civilians that happened to get caught in the crossfire. His family was killed, his friends were killed, and everything that he had loved had been destroyed. The land wept for the fallen. The land of Rain. The land of Hell.

Nobody noticed.

Nobody cared.

He had killed the boy who he thought of as a brother in order to exact his revenge on the village of the Leaf. Konan, the girl that he loved, the girl that he would have done anything for, hated him because of his insatiable lust for vengeance. He had lost everything that he cared for in order to make Konoha pay for what it had done, and Kisame and Itachi had simply marched into Fire country and laid it to waste.

And they hadn't even realized the magnitude of what they had done.

Pein's eyes snapped to Kisame, a murderous light glowing within his multi-ringed orbs. The Kiri nin opened his mouth to say something, but the leader of Akatsuki instantly cut him off.

"Shinra tensei."

Kisame roared in pain as his already wounded body was crushed to the ground by the Amekage's keikai genkai. Try as he might the shark-man's body refused to move; immobilized by unmatched pressure.

With a soft click, a large obsidian blade slid from the Ame nin's robe.

"Hoshigaki Kisame." he drawled neutrally. "You are guilty of insubordination, the punishment for which is death."

In a flash the blade had bitten through the shark-man's neck. Slicing through muscle and bone effortlessly, severing Kisame's head in a shower of gore. Save for a few sporadic twitches, the nuke nin's body lay still.

Pein flicked the bloody beads from his weapon and turned towards the still kneeling figure of Itachi.

"You have failed me, Uchiha Itachi."

The sharingan wielder bowed his head. "I know, master. I am sorry."

A smirk tugged at the corner of Pein's mouth. "Do not worry. You will have many chances to prove your usefulness to me."

Itachi's brow furrowed in confusion.

"That is to say..."

Without warning the ebony blade swept downwards, severing the Uchiha's head in one clean motion.

"Your body will."

XXXXXX

Naruto's eyes slowly began to open as the aquatic metronome of leaking pipes roused him from unconsciousness. The blond shook his head in puzzlement as he began the arduous task of getting to his feet.

His body just didn't seem to be moving the way it did normally. In fact, it was almost as if the air surrounding him was heavier than normal, like he was trying to swim through jello or tar. His mind, usually a whirlwind of activity, was totally still and a strange sensation like his head was filled with moist cotton gradually began to take hold.

The sound of soft gravely laughter echoed behind him. "**It's not easy being human, is it Naruto?**"

A grin came across the boy's face as he turned to face the one who had addressed him.

"No. It's not easy at all, Kyuubi-sama."

"**Kyuubi-sama?" **the fox chuckled in amusement. "**Why so formal Naruto? There's no need for such propriety among long time friends.**"

The boy cocked his head in confusion. "But you are my king, my king. I would sooner die than think myself your equal."

"**Oh?" **The demon questioned in mock curiosity. "**If I am your king** t**han why do treat me as if I were a scullery maid? Surely you can't expect me to keep picking up the pieces and patching your broken body back together. Hmm?"**

The jinchuuriki's eyes widened in horror. "I-I please forgive me Kyuubi-sama I meant no..."

The child's sniveling was promptly squelched by uproarious laughter.

"**Naruto, Naruto." **The Kyuubi chided through laughter. "**You take things much to seriously. I have no qualms about stitching you back together." **Suddenly the fox's laughter cut off.

"**But take heed Naruto, you are not immortal and if you continue to do battle so recklessly, you will inevitably be destroyed."**

The boy nodded warily. "If I'm not overstepping my bounds, my lord, how can I be killed? I've been decapitated and yet still I could fight. I bleed for days and suffer no ill effects. Fire cannot touch me, wind cannot scathe me. With your power, Kyuubi-sama, how can I not be invincible."

A phantom smile crossed the great demon's face. "**You've already answered your question Naruto, and yet you can't see the forest for the trees." **

"**We are a hybrid race, neither human nor demon; and as such your frail human shell limits your true potential." **

"**My power is volatile, much to volatile for your mortal body to control. With time you can adapt to it but if you were to initiate the seven-tailed transformation again, you would die."**

"**You still need to partake of food and drink. And lest you've forgotten so quickly, you still need to breathe."**

Naruto at least had the good graces to look embarrassed by that remark.

However the Kyuubi seemed not to pay the boy any mind and continued to speak.

"**And as you yourself said, this power is mine, and as such it can be ripped from you in its entirety. Most assuredly, that would kill you." **

The boy looked away, for the first time ever ashamed by his pride.

"What...what must I do Kyuubi-sama?" he asked softly.

The fox merely chuckled. "**You're a clever boy, figure it out for yourself. Like I said before we are a hybrid race, your weakness is mine just as much as my power and knowledge is yours. You'll figure it out. One way or another you'll figure it out."**

"**Wake up Naruto."**

XXXXXXX

The jinchuuriki's eyes shot open snapping rapidly from side to side in an attempt to locate any oncoming threat. Thankfully there was none.

A voice to the blond's left spoke slowly and in an overly calm voice.

"Don't stab me in the face."

A small smile settled on the boy's face as he turned towards his godfather. "I'll be sure to take that into consideration."

Jiraiya snorted at his godson's glib version of humor and began to look the boy over. "You look terrible kid. What the hell did you get yourself into out there?"

Naruto blinked in a befuddled manner. "Out there? Where am I now?"

The Sannin quirked an eyebrow. "You're in the hospital kid; you've been here for five days. This is where people end up after they've had most of their skin come off."

A pang of worry shot through the demon vessel.

'_Why didn't I heal?_'

"My skin came off?"

Jiraiya leaned back in his chair and nodded. "It was... gruesome to say the very least. At first the doctors thought that you'd been hit by a fire jutsu, but when they took a closer look they discovered that the damage was at its worst inside you. Ir was almost like you'd been cooked from the inside outwards."

The Kyuubi's warning replayed itself in his mind.

"My frail human body." he whispered.

"You say something kid?" the hermit questioned.

Naruto shook the thoughts from his head. "Nothing of any importance sensei. So what happened? If I was melting a couple days ago how am I awake now?"

Jiraiya looked at him as if he were crazy. Well, crazier.

"Naruto you regrow your limbs on a regular basis and eat people. I would've been surprised if you _didn't_ wake up a few days after being melted. However that begs the question: Why were you so injured?"

The boy was silent for a long time before he finally spoke.

"You will tell no one of what I'm about to tell you, are we clear?"

The Sannin flinched at his godson's abrupt change in demeanor but nodded his head.

"I'm," the blond sighed. "I'm not strong enough to use the full power of the Kyuubi. I drew out to much of its chakra and it started to kill me."

Jiraiya digested this information and chose his next words very carefully. "How much of the Kyuubi's power did you use?"

"Seven tails."

Though the toad hermit's face remained stoic brain began to work in overdrive.

'_Seven tails. Seven! Just being around him when he activates four tails is almost too much, but seven? That's ridiculous! What was Naruto fighting that would warrant the use of that much power?_'

"Who," The Sannin paused. "Who were you fighting?"

The boy ignored the question, opting instead to pull the various IV's out of his arms and get out of bed.

"Naru-"

"Jiraiya." The demon container interrupted. "Do you trust me."

"Not at all." his godfather immediately replied.

Naruto smirked at that. "You are a wise man Jiraiya. In that case do you fear me?"

The toad sage didn't like where this was going.

"Yes." He answered tentatively.

"Then believe me when I tell you that no good can come from the knowledge that you're seeking. Suffice to say, it is my business and mine alone. If it would allay your fears I can assure you that your village is in no danger. The simple fact of the matter is that it would make my life much more difficult if Sarutobi were uncover what occurred on my mission. Tell him that one of my original jutsu backfired."

As a ninja, Jiraiya had no qualms about falsifying testimony. However, the thought of offering up false information to the Hokage left a bitter taste in his mouth. Sarutobi was his mentor, his friend, the man whom he thought of as a father. Could he really lie to him?

Naruto was beginning to get impatient. "Sensei?"

He was going to have to. What could he say? Jiraiya liked living.

"I recognize that you are a very capable ninja Naruto. Sarutobi will no nothing about what you've just told me... I can only pray that my faith in you is not misplaced."

The boy's stern expression softened considerably upon hearing his godfather's words.

"Thank you Jiraiya."

"Think nothing of it."

The peaceable science was broken by the Sannin's snickering, and the blonde gave his godfather an irritated look. "Something funny Jiraiya?"

"Kid," he chuckled. "have you seen what you're wearing?"

A wave of embarrassment and and anger flooded through the boy as he looked down at his current attire. Uzumaki Naruto, the jinchuuriki to the nine-tailed king, the monster of the hidden leaf, was wearing a hospital gown with his ass hanging out the back.

"Jiraiya," The boy seethed. "Where the fuck are my clothes?"

It took every fiber of control within the toad sage's body to keep him from saying something very stupid.

"I couldn't begin to tell you kid, but hey, how about I use buying you new clothes as an excuse to get the hell out of here."

The boy nodded, seemingly unaware that ribbons of scarlet chakra were beginning to leak from his body.

"See ya kid!" And with that Jiraiya leaped out the window and disappeared in search of clothing.

XXXXXX

Thankfully the hermit returned before his godson was able kill anyone, and with that little issue behind them, the duo left the hospital.

The clothes that Jiraiya had bought him were practically identical to his old ones; except for one major difference.

"I need new gloves." The jinchuuriki deadpanned as he continued to flex his hands. "Mine were, shall we say, rendered inoperable."

The toad Sannin shook his head in disbelief but then suddenly went still.

'_Oh this is gonna be beautiful._'

"C'mon kid. It's high time that you learn how to seal."

Naruto opened his mouth to complain but then he was hit with a thought.

'_What else am I going to do to pass the time._'

"Sure. Why not."

XXXXXX

As it was when Jiraiya began teaching him eight years ago, Naruto learned many things. And like before, none of them were considerably useful.

The art of sealing was difficult to say the very least. In fact, unless you had inborn aptitude for the technique it was damn near impossible to even learn the basics. That being said, Naruto was a combat specialist. He lived and breathed the thrill of battle and reviled in the fact the he was best of the best. So when his godfather began to teach him the intricate details of sealing a steel ball into a glove, the boy nearly lost it.

It wasn't until the sage showed him the effects of an exploding tag that Naruto actually began to pay attention.

Ravenously.

Like all men, the jinchuuriki was born with an innate attraction to things that blew up. This trait in and of itself was normally harmless, and would eventually play out in one of three ways. One: the man would control his pyromaniacal urges and grow up to become someone of little interest. Two: the man would blow off a few fingers before realizing "hey! That was a stupid idea. I'm not doing that again." and, like in case one, become someone of little interest. Three: the man would blow himself apart.

The unifying detail in all three cases is that in the end the man would no longer be able to blow things up.

Naruto, on the other hand, blew the shit out of himself constantly and hardly even noticed.

This led to problems.

These problems were promptly solved by the proper application of explosives.

To make matters worse the toad Sannin accidentally let it slip that he was training both his Gennin team and Naruto through the use of shadow clones. This lead the boy to discover that memories of shadow clones are transferred to the original upon the clone's dispersal. And with that, a technique that was originally intended for the purpose of scouting was morphed into an intensive training technique.

With the boy's ungodly amount of chakra, he could create thousands of shadow clones to learn for him. In one day he could learn a year's worth of material, and with the king of demons so integrally connected to him, Naruto could process the sudden surge of knowledge almost instantly.

Only too late did Jiraiya realize that he'd mounted the proverbial Gatling gun on the shark this time around.

High-grade exploding seals were carved into every single steel ball that the boy had in his arsenal. Reenforcing seals were drawn onto every stitch of clothing that he wore. Elemental repulsion seals were affixed to his gloves, chakra reservoirs and training weights were tattooed onto his body.

And if that wasn't frightening enough, the boy began to tamper with the Yondaime's seal.

After two weeks of this "training", the Hokage could take no more.

He sent Naruto on an S-rank mission far far away.

A mission quash an insurrection in the land of Waves.

A revolution led by one Momochi Zabuza.


	11. Overkill

**AN: **Sweeeet. I finished this chapter before the month was out, that's cause for celebration right? I'll try to update again before the week is out so I don't think that you guys will have to wait too long for the next update. As a highly insecure person (sarcasm) I couldn't help but notice that the last chapter was a tad skint on readers. Oh well, it's probably my own fault for making people think that Naruto was dead and then not updating for a month. Anyways, I hope you all like this chapter.

Also, this is going to be an incredibly violent story (in case you hadn't noticed). Those of you who are turned off by violence or are easily offended should get the fuck out right now seeing as how the large majority of this story will be me trying to come up with ridiculous super violent deaths. Those of you who like violence will probably love this story.

Enjoy.

* * *

'_Have I done the right thing?_'

Sarutobi sighed wearily as the question yet again dug its way out of his subconscious. For his entire political career, this question had followed him like a wraith; an intangible whisper whose sole purpose was to fill him with a sense of restless dread.

When he was younger it was much easier to silence these negative thoughts; much more _desirable_ to remain ignorant of the fallout caused by his actions.

But now he was old.

He was too old to maintain the ruse that he'd set in place in his youth, too wise to be tricked by his own lies and wishful thinking. And now, with his defenses worn away, the question plagued him endlessly.

Naruto plagued him endlessly.

The old man took a long drag from his beloved pipe and slowly released a stream of blue hued smoke into the air above him. His eyes drifted to the open folder on his desk.

It was the Wave mission; Naruto's mission.

The mission had started out as a C-rank. Like any other C-rank mission the objective was fairly simple. Escort a bridge builder back to his homeland and then provide protection for said bridge builder until his bridge was complete. Challenging for a team of rookie Genin, but nothing extraordinarily dangerous or life threatening.

However the client had lied.

By building his bridge, the client had managed to draw the eye of a shipping industry giant named Gato. For years Gato had had a monopoly on the shipping yards in Wave, and when one controlled the imports and exports of an island nation they controlled everything.

Suffice to say, Gato was a very rich, very powerful, and very dangerous man.

If this bridge were to be completed Gato stood to loose hundreds of millions of Ryo. And in an instant, the bridge builder was Gato's greatest priority.

The bridge builder's treachery was discovered by his guards only after they had reached the heart of Wave. Gato had employed one the most lethal killers in the business, a man by the name of Momochi Zabuza. Against the legendary demon of the hidden mist there could be no victory.

The Genin, their Jonin sensei, and the bridge builder all were killed.

After his job was completed, Gato felt that Zabuza's promised payment was too steep for his taste and tried to double cross him. Of course, the demon of Kiri didn't take to fondly to the idea of being stabbed in the back and killed the shipping giant. This left him in complete control of the man's wealth as well as his shipping monopoly.

In essence, Zabuza was now the new ruler of Wave.

Driven by his lust for power, the pseudo Kage enacted a law which granted amnesty to any missing nin who swore their loyalty to him. And, as expected, all manner of scum swarmed to Wave. An army of cutthroats and villains whom Zabuza would inevitably let loose on his home village of Mist.

The man's insane obsession to become Mizukage was finally becoming a reality.

Sarutobi exhaled another plume of smoke before closing the file and placing it in his desk.

Although the situation between Zabuza and Kiri was none of Konoha's concern, the fact still remained that Kiri nuke nin had killed four of their ninja. That was an offense that Sarutobi couldn't let stand.

Now more than ever, the village hidden in the leaves couldn't appear weak. Konoha's enemies would only stay their hand if they witnessed an act of overkill.

And overkill was Naruto's specialty.

The boy's mission was about as clear cut as an S-rank mission could be. In the file, the mission was described as "unrestricted heavy urban combat" but in simple English this could be translated into "Kill everything that moves". An objective that Naruto would be all to eager to complete.

This mission was absolutely perfect for the sadistic jinchuuriki, and yet Sarutobi couldn't shake the feeling of anxiousness that had settled in his heart.

He'd always known that the child was powerful, frightfully so, but that knowledge still hadn't prepared him for the utter destruction that Naruto had wrought on his mission three weeks ago. The wake of ruin that followed the boy had made it absolutely clear that he was unable to carry out missions within Fire country. The collateral damage that inevitably ensued was far to steep a price to pay, even if the mission was completed.

This was why Naruto was perfect for this mission; any damage that the boy inflicted would do nothing to harm Konoha.

Wave, however, was an entirely separate matter.

Hence the Sandaime's reluctance to send his most powerful agent to a country that was neutral towards the Leaf village.

Sarutobi had no qualms about ending innocent lives if it meant that Konoha would endure and he cared far less about the lives of those who resided in Wave. But after witnessing first hand what the boy was capable of, the question tortured the old man.

'_Have I done the right thing?_'

In a few hours the sun would be setting.

That was when Naruto would arrive in Wave.

That was when the Hokage would have his answer.

XXXXXX

Naruto lay against the trunk of a large tree, watching peacefully as the sun disappeared behind the horizon. A soft smile spread across the boy's face as he continued to bask in the crimson light. This was his vice, his flaw.

His humanity.

However, as the sun slipped away so too did his smile. The familiar vicious grin took its place on his face and the warmth in his eyes took on a much darker air, until only hunger and rage remained.

XXXXXX

Because of Zabuza's offer of amnesty, the docks of Wave were choked with murderers and traitors looking to take the man up on his offer. Boatloads arrived every day, and with so many bodies moving about, nobody noticed a young blonde boy, no matter how out of place he seemed.

It was only after the boy started releasing an evil feeling chakra did they take notice.

"Hey kid." A wiry green haired spoke. "What 'cha doin'? That some kinda keikai genkai?"

Naruto's answer was to lash out with his talons, decapitating the man in a spray of blood. Four more quickly followed suit, dead on the floor of the dock before they even realized something was wrong.

It was a Jonin from Iwa who reacted first, and consequentially, was the next to die. The Jonin struck, lunging at the jinchuuriki with a ninjato. The man's eyes widened in horror as the boy seemed to vanish. A gurgling scream was ripped from the Iwa nin's throat as Naruto's arm exploded out of his chest.

By this time, the rest of the missing nin had figured out what was happening and kunai filled the air.

A malicious glint filled the demon vessel's eye as he took hold of two Chuunin. The men screamed in pain as dozens of knives skewered their bodies before falling silent.

Naruto's form evaporated from view, reappearing just long enough to shear off an arm or a leg before vanishing again.

The dock became awash in blood.

A Jonin began to rapidly form hand-seals but was abruptly cut off as the boy's jaws slammed shut around his neck. With a violent jerk of his own neck, Naruto ripped the man's head from his shoulders, roaring in triumph as he was splattered by sticky sheets of hot gore.

From behind him, the jinchuuriki heard the familiar crack of an incoming lightning jutsu. He spun on his heel, raising his hand toward the oncoming attack. The elemental repulsion seal on his glove flashed white and with a loud bang the Kumo nin found his own jutsu fired back through him, punching a perfect hole clean through his chest.

The demon container pirouetted out of the way of a water jutsu and lunged at the caster. He took hold of the man's outstretched arm, and with a wet crack, ripped it from the man's torso. The Kiri nin's screams of pain were abruptly silenced as the man's head was flattened by his severed arm. Naruto wrenched the disembodied limb out of the pool of blood and gray matter, whipping it like a javelin through the head of an incoming enemy.

"Earth release: Stone garden jutsu!"

The jinchuuriki's grin widened as spires of razor sharp stone began to erupt from the ground, spearing through enemy ninja as they converged on him. Naruto dodged the jutsu effortlessly, snaking through the forest of earthen thorns with unnatural grace. With a sickening crunch, the demon vessel's foot connected with the Rock nin's chest. The man fell to his knees coughing blood and Naruto's other foot came down, smashing the Jonin's head against the ground like a piece of overripe fruit.

The demon child had little time to admire his kill before he was forced to dodge again. With flawless precision the boy deflected his opponent's kunai, and while the man was still off balance, Naruto took hold of the nin's head and skewed it on the stone spikes.

Again a storm of kunai assailed him and again he seemed to fade in and out of view, causing the knives to strike nothing but open air. He landed on top of a Taki Chuunin and tore the man's head from his shoulders, bathing himself and those around him in a deluge of blood.

Before anyone had a chance to attack the boy crimson chakra exploded from his body. Those who were closest to him died instantly, the sudden rush of demonic chakra reducing their bodies to little more than smears of ash on the dock floor.

They were the lucky ones.

Those who were on the outskirts of the blast didn't have the good fortune of dieing immediately. Their bodies burst into flame and began to dissolve, the result of a mortal body taking in far too much demonic energy. The deck itself was transformed into a deadly projectile as the force of the blast sent thousands of pieces of stone flying through the air.

And in the middle of it all stood Naruto, seething with rage as his five blazing tails writhed behind him.

With firm footfalls, the jinchuuriki slowly made his way into town.

Even before Gato had taken over, Wave had never been an extraordinarily nice country. The salty air quickly ate away at any exposed metal and as a result much of the buildings in town were in a state of total disrepair. Back when the people were free, much of there pitiful income went towards fixing up their homes or shops. After the economic vampire, Gato, showed up the town began to rot from the inside out.

People turned to crime. Drugs flooded the streets. Murder and rape became commonplace. But if you throw a bunch of dangerous angry men, say missing nin, into the mix... let's just say it wasn't pretty.

"**Humans."**Naruto spoke to no one in particular. "**You're like a plague, a fucking disease. I'll be doing the world a favor by wiping this blight from the face of the earth."**

With so much chakra surrounding his body, the demon vessel didn't even need to weave the hand-seals.

"**Fire release: Fire dragon missile jutsu!"**

The air in front the boy rippled like water and immediately buildings began to ignite. Azure fire shot from the demon child's mouth, utterly disintegrating anything unlucky enough to be caught in its path. Everything in his sight was incinerated, houses, people, stores, it didn't matter. Everything was burned. Erased from this earth by flames that raged so hot not even dust remained.

Off in the distance Naruto took in the sight of a large glass skyscraper, that glittered like a spike of crystal and silver in the light of the moon.

'_**Zabuza.**_'

He would deal with this so called demon of the hidden mist personally. This man would pay dearly for affixing the epithet "demon" to his wretched human name. Before the night was out, Naruto would show this man the power of a true demon.

XXXXXX

Zabuza stood at the top of the building, hands clasped behind his back as he stoically watched his town burn.

'_It seems that I've overplayed my hand. It seems like this last evil act was the straw that broke the camel's back, and now the Shinigami himself sends his hounds for me.'_

A knock came from his office door.

"Enter." he commanded, still looking outward at the burning town.

A feminine looking boy walked toward Zabuza.

"Zabuza-sama, there is an intruder in the building. The men are doing the best that they can but they can't stop the him. Quickly my lord, you must escape!"

Behind his bandages the missing nin smiled.

'_You're a good lad, Haku. I'm so sorry that you had to be a part of this.'_

"I'm not running away Haku."

The boy looked shocked. "B-but Zabuza-sama you-"

"You are welcome to run if you wish." the demon of the mist deadpanned.

"Never."

Zabuza chuckled, of course Haku would stay with him. "Then how about you give our guest a proper welcome."

Haku bowed. "If it will please you, Zabuza-sama."

With that, the boy vanished.

XXXXXX

Naruto suddenly found his path barred a girlish looking boy.

"You will not harm Zabuza-sama." the boy said as he began to twirl a long black needle.

The jinchuuriki's eyes glinted menacingly.

"**You dare to order **_**me**_**?**"

The moment the boy's mouth was open, Haku fired. Senbon after senbon struck the wide eyed Naruto square inside his mouth. Blood spilled from his needle peppered mouth and the demon vessel's body rocked from side to side before it fell to the ground.

And blurred out of sight.

Haku couldn't even scream as the demon child's steel-like grip wrapped around his throat and lifted him into the air. A second Naruto came into view juggling a metal ball.

"**I like to throw things too. Check this out.**"

With a resounding bang the projectile flew towards the head of the strangled Haku.

"**Katsu!**"

The cannonade erupted into a rush of molten slag and flames, the force of the explosion nearly toppling the building.

Naruto grinned but his victory was short lived as a rain of needles slammed into his back.

'_**Kawarimi**_.'

"You will not harm Zabuza-sama." the boy repeated with an air of finality.

The grin return full force when he realized that he got to use plan B.

'_**Plan B is great. Maybe it should've been plan A.**_' He mused.

"**Oh, I'm pretty sure I will. By the way, that's a real nice tattoo on you neck. In fact, if I'm not mistaken it almost looks like a high-grade explosive seal. Huh. Fancy that."**

Haku's blood ran cold.

"**Oh yes.**" the boy chuckled. "**Katsu!"**

Haku's scream was muffled by a second monstrous explosion that reduced the boy's body into little more than gory paste. However Naruto hadn't planed for the boy to have so many senbon on his person and as such, the explosive seal had more or less turned Haku into a human pipe bomb.

"**Fuck.**"

He thanked Kami that nobody was around to witness his painful blunder.

XXXXXX

The door to Zabuza's office swung open and the overwhelming stench of blood and burning meat began to permeate the room.

"I take it that Haku is dead."

Naruto actually laughed at that.

"**Haku? Look around you Zabuza everyone is dead!"** his chuckling tapered off. "**How did you possibly become the ruler of Wave?**"

"Here!" Zabuza roared as he swung the head chopping sword at the boy. "Let me show you!"

The jinchuuriki's claws lashed out and struck the blade, cutting it in half with no effort at all. Zabuza's eyes widened shock and Naruto struck, ramming his talons through the man's shoulder in a spray of blood.

"**No Zabuza, let me show you." **He snarled as he twisted his claws deeper into the nuke nin's arm.** "Let me show you the price to be paid for claiming to be a demon. Let me show you what I think about pretenders to my glorious race."**

Zabuza moved to draw a kunai from his waist but was halted when Naruto's hammer-like fist slammed against his head. The demon container's hand wrapped around the missing nin's head, smashing it through the nearby window before throwing him like a rag-doll against the far wall.

Dazedly, Zabuza's eyes locked onto the form of his assailant. Silhouetted against the moon, Naruto's eyes glowed hatefully, daring the demon of the mist to make his move.

"**There is a jutsu that I've been trying to develop, please, allow me to show it to you."**

Naruto's hands slowly formed a window-like seal.

XXXXXX

A burst of ruby hued light erupted from the top the skyscraper, causing the beautiful crystal spire to twist and shatter, launching millions of fragments of glass into the sky. Steel groaned and concrete heaved as the massive structure began to unmake itself. Tar garnet tendrils of demonic energy ravenously engulfed the building, ripping it down piece by piece.

Naruto's mission was complete.

The land of Waves was no more.


	12. Killer8

**AN**: Another quick update yippee! I can only hope that I'll be able to continue to write at such a pace. Thanks for the positive feedback on the last chapter. It does my heart good to know that there are people out there who still appreciate gratuitous violence. As stated in the previous AN this is going to be an incredibly violent story, so if anyone wants to send me a PM or a review with a ridiculous death, it would make me very happy. After all, I can only have Naruto use someone's spinal column as makeshift garrote wire so many times before it gets boring.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy what you read.

* * *

For a ninja, there was no greater source of pride than the completion of their first S-rank mission.

It was an honor, a rare privilege, for the Hokage to even _consider_ sending one of his Jonin on an S-rank mission. It was an act that said "you are my right hand. You are the one whom I trust above all others." He had faith in you. And by succeeding in the mission, you showed the Hokage that his trust had not been misplaced.

So why then, did Naruto feel nothing but disgust and rage upon walking through the gates of Konoha?

He was a Genin, a wet behind the ears rookie who'd managed to not only be chosen for an S-rank mission, but had also completed it without taking a scratch. Such a thing was unheard of! Not even Kakashi, the elite of the elite, had been able to accomplish an S-rank without injury.

And yet, Naruto's anger remained.

It was easy, so fucking easy, to simply walk into the land of Waves and crush the life out of it. The insurmountable odds, the gapping chasm between the levels of combat experience, it was all meaningless when placed against the power of the nine-tailed king.

It shouldn't have happened.

It shouldn't have been so easy.

He was furious that his opponents could be so weak. For nearly thirteen years the jinchuuriki had sought out his death. Thirteen years of searching for the one who would make him feel alive, the one who would give his life meaning. And for thirteen years Naruto had found nothing but bitter disappointment. He was a prisoner trapped in a cage made of glass. Everything was so fragile, so brittle. It made all of his power seem so meaningless.

"N-nartuo-sama?" Inquired a nervous sounding voice.

The demon vessel's eyes locked with those of a man in his early thirties and his rage flared. How _dare_ this piece of shit even think to call his name!

"Why do you speak to me?" the boy hissed darkly. "Perhaps you want me to end you miserable existence?"

The demon child's talons slowly began to extend from his fingers.

"N-no my l-lord please!" the man begged, nearly in tears. "I-I was o-only trying to b-be a gracious host. I-I meant no d-disrespect."

'_Gracious host_?'

Naruto's eyes snapped away from the terrified man and took in his surroundings.

He was in a bar.

A look of confusion settled on the boy's face.

Why was he in a bar?

The realization was unsettling to say the very least. He was the vessel of the Kyuubi; his mind was powerful and sharp. He could breeze through complex equations in the blink of an eye; he could recall in perfect detail nearly everything he saw.

How come he couldn't remember how he got here?

Naruto suddenly became acutely aware of how strange he was feeling. The air seemed thick, oppressive, almost as if he were trying to breathe tree sap instead of oxygen. It was hot, far too hot for the heat to be natural. His mind went blank as the most extraordinary smell washed over him. It was crisp and clear, soft, like rainwater and sky, powerful and harsh like lightning. It was intoxicating.

The scent filled his mind, pushing out every other coherent thought in its attempt to envelope him completely. His brain shut down. He no longer cared about how he got to the bar, no longer cared about being constantly disappointed.

None of that mattered anymore.

The only thing he cared about now was finding the source of this delicious fragrance.

It was a simple task. Since the arrival of Naruto, the population within the bar had dwindled significantly. The only people who remained were the ones who were foreign to Konoha.

Naruto's eyes widened in awe when he discovered the origin of the smell.

It was a woman.

The jinchuuriki's first instinct was that he'd fallen into some sort of dream. A creature this beautiful, this perfect, couldn't possibly exist anywhere other than a fantasy. But the more that Naruto looked at her, the more he came to realize that he didn't care if this was a dream.

Her soft golden hair was pulled into a braid, a rope of sunlight that rolled off her shoulder and dangled teasingly in front of her tantalizing assets. Naruto traced the generous curve of her breasts upward to her face, and oh Kami how he wished he hadn't.

The minute he'd laid his eyes on her face, he knew he would never be able to look away.

Her skin was flawless, soft and creamy as if it were made of liquid ivory, taunting him with its very existence. The woman's mouth opened and immediately Naruto's eyes were drawn to it. Her pouty delicate lips parted just wide enough for her to slip a slender straw between them, and Naruto felt his heart hammer in his chest as he caught just the smallest hint of her slender, pink tongue before her mouth closed again.

The man on the other side of the table leaned in close to whisper something to the woman, an act which filled the jinchuuriki with the sudden urge to rip the man's head off. However, Naruto reined in his murderous instincts; his fear of frightening off the beautiful woman stronger than his lust for blood.

Her head turned and their eyes connected. The heat that surrounded him became overwhelming as he continued to gaze into the pools of violet smoke that were her eyes.

Naruto could hold himself back no longer.

Slowly he walked towards her.

XXXXXX

Yugito took another sip from her drink as she continued to listen half-heartedly to Tee ramble on about…something.

Tee was a monster of a man. Handsome, dark skin, thick muscles… he almost looked like a bigger version of Bee, if such a thing was even possible. In fact, if he traded in his Mohawk for cornrows and shaved his beard, Yugito was fairly sure that they'd look practically identical.

It was just too bad that Tee was just as annoying as Bee.

"Yo, kitty." The man's abrasive voice jerked her from her thoughts. "That foo' over there be starin' at you." He leaned closer, a smug look on his face. "Guess you be too hot for these tree huggers."

The container of the Nibi let out an exasperated sigh.

'_Tee's right. I'm too hot for my own good._'

She turned, her eyes meeting with those of her admirer. Heat consumed her as the boy's lustful crimson gaze sent pleasurable tingles through her body. She whimpered softly when he began to advance on her.

"Yo, you cool Yugito?" questioned the far off voice of Tee.

Yugito shook her head in an attempt to rid herself of the unbearable heat that surrounded her. If anything, the feeling intensified.

Her voice came out in a trembling moan. "Get Bee."

To his credit, Tee reacted almost instantly in spite of the seemingly random claim. He gave her a quick nod and jumped out of his seat in search of his other teammate.

The only problem was; now Yugito was completely alone with the boy.

Upon realizing this, a sort of pleasurable terror filled her body. Terror not of what this boy would do to her, but of what she would do to him. It didn't matter to her that he was still a child; hell it didn't matter to her that he was a ninja of the Leaf. Reason had abandoned her, and only mindless need remained.

It was something about him, something about the way he carried himself that made her knees go weak and her blood run hot. His stride radiated power and confidence as he neared her. He was a being, regal and proud.

An emperor.

A demon.

Something like her.

"What is your name?" he purred in a voice like shadows wrapped in velvet.

His voice sent delicious shivers down her spine and she struggled to form a coherent thought.

"Y-Yugito." she stammered.

He chuckled darkly as he moved even closer to her. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Yugito."

Yugito could only nod in wordless agreement as the boy got even closer to her. The back of Naruto's hand slowly brushed across one of her flawless cheeks, and she moaned softly, leaning ever so slightly into his caress.

The moment was shattered when a sudden _annoying_ voice rang out. "You a naughty girl, Yugito, robbin' the cradle. So Imma knock you on the top of yo head, with my ladle."

The jinchuuriki grit her teeth as the obnoxious "rap" ended and a large metal ladle hit the top of her head. When she turned around and looked up into the oblivious smiling face of Killer Bee, it took all of her restraint to keep from punching him.

Naruto, on the other hand, showed no such restraint. His talons were out and immediately they were turned on the one who dared to interrupt him.

As the strike closed on his head Bee weaved out of the way, escaping from the blow with only four shallow scratches on his face. Scratches that faded from view almost instantly.

The Naruto's face gave away nothing, the boy was amazed. No one had ever been able to dodge his claws, not Jiraiya, not the Hokage, not even Kisame. This man was special.

A strange feeling washed over the jinchuuriki, like he was missing something trapped just below the surface of his consciousness.

"**You.**" Naruto murmured in a far off voice. "**I know you**."

A grin spread across the Kumo nin's face but other than that, Bee made no effort to answer the boy.

"**Who are you?**" The demon child asked, excitement beginning to creep into his voice.

Bee and Naruto slowly began to circle each other.

"**I implore you, tell me you name**."

"Killer Bee, Kira-hachi, the Hachibi. Call me what you will, it's all the same to me."

Naruto's familiar psychotic grin threatened to split his face in half as sparks of ruby tinged chakra began to arc from his body.

"**Killer-eight.**"

The other jinchuuriki nodded as his own body became alight with crimson sparks.

"**Encroaching on my territory, Killer-eight?**" Naruto questioned in mock anger. "**That must be it. After all, why else would you enter my domain?**"

Killer Bee chuckled in amusement. "Of course you'd say that, my very vain friend. You can relax for now, I'm just following orders."

Naruto sent the man a knowing smirk "**Oh? And what orders might those be?**"

"Chunin exams, son. Just gonna run a little defense, so to speak."

The boy laughed. "**I see that your annoying habit of talking in riddles hasn't changed. **He rubbed his chin in fake conjecture. "**The Chunin exams you say? Killer-eight I'm so upset. I thought you'd come to do battle with me, not a rabble of mindless Genin. Surely you will consider fighting a worthy opponent?**"

Killer Bee smirked. "You sure have a backwards-ass wayof challenging someone to a fight, but I accept. We do battle at the finals of the Chunin exams; the grandest stage of them all. Savor the anticipation Nine-tails; this will be over far too soon."

"**As you wish Killer-eight.**" Naruto said as he began to walk towards the door. "**I will see you on the other side**."

And with that, he vanished in a blast of scarlet energy.

"See you on the other side." Killer Bee replied to the empty air.

"Oh shut up you cryptic freak!" Yelled a very flushed Yugito. Her teammate winced at her sudden outburst but the act went unnoticed by the irate woman. "Who the fuck was that! Why the hell does he want to fight you!" she blushed. "Why was I trying to get it on with a little kid! Yugito paused for a second. "And why did you hit me on the head with a ladle."

Killer Bee rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Because ladle was the only thing I could think of the rhymed with cradle."

His teammate's eyes narrowed dangerously. Of course he would answer the least important question; he was Killer Bee, the most infuriating man on the planet.

She grabbed hold of his shirt and pulled him down to eye level. "We are going back to the apartment and you are going to fuck my brains out. Then you're going to tell me _exactly_ what the hell just happened. Are we clear?"

The dark skinned Jonin could do little more than nod his head before he was dragged out of the bar by his very pissed off teammate.

And with that, only an incredibly confused Tee remained in the bar.

XXXXXXX

Team 7 had come a long way in just a little over a month.

Under the harsh but necessary tutelage of Jiraiya, the Genin had grown by leaps and bounds. 24 D-rank missions and 9 C-rank missions had been completed within that time, a feat which no other rookie team could claim to have done. All three of team 7's members had also killed on their missions, another exploit that was exclusive to them.

Sasuke had shown the most progress during his short time as a shinobi. He'd unlocked the fabled sharingan eye during the third C-rank mission that the team had completed. At first Jiraiya had been reluctant to allow the Uchiha to use his newly unlocked doujutsu for training. At first he was worried that it would seem like cheating to his other students, but when neither Ino nor Kiba voiced any complaints he caved. So far nothing serious had resulted because of it.

Not far behind Sasuke was Ino. The girl had continuously surprised her sensei, the biggest of which being the member of the team with the highest kill count. After only a month into her career Ino already had thirteen kills under her belt an accomplishment that even Sasuke couldn't ignore. Through a combination of genjutsu and Yamanaka mind-control techniques, the young mind-walker didn't even need to lift a finger to do some serious damage.

And last but not least, there was Kiba. After spending eight years of his life on the wrong end of Naruto's claws, Jiraiya was able to teach his godson's fighting style to the Inuzuka almost exactly. With his canine abilities, Kiba was perfectly suited for the brutally effective style that the jinchuuriki had developed. The style was deadly to be sure but without Naruto's insane regenerative capabilities the Inuzuka was forced to modify the taijutsu form. The end result was smaller far-less destructive version of Naruto in Genin form.

Jiraiya smiled to his students as he pulled three registration forms from his vest. "I've nominated the three of you for the Chunin exams. Participation is strictly voluntary. If you wish to enter, bring these forms with you to the academy, room 301 by 4 p.m. one week from today. Remember you don't have to do this if you don't want to. If you choose not to enter it will not be held against you."

The Sannin barely had the time to blink before three fully filled out registration forms were pushed into his hands.

"Well all right then, I guess that concludes business for today. Remember to show up bright and early because tomorrow you're going to work your asses off."

The Genin were just about to leave when a cackling voice suddenly rang out. " **Oh,** **I wouldn't let them leave just yet Jiraiya. They should stick around for this. After all, it **_**does**_** pertain to them."**

The toad Sannin stifled a groan as his maniacal godson appeared in a flash of vermilion light.

"What do you want Naruto?"

A grin spread across the jinchuuriki's face. "**Why, what everyone else wants of course: For sensei dearest to nominate me for the Chunin exams.**"

Jiraiya knew where this was headed. "Sorry Naruto but only three people can be chosen to participate in the exams. If I nominated more, then the exams would be unfair."

Naruto didn't seem fazed in the least. "**So **_**un**_**nominate one of your students before I have to do so for you.**"

The toad sage sent his students an apologetic look.

Sasuke's eyes went wide. "You're not seriously thinking about taking one of us out of the exams in order to enter him are you!" The Uchiha's bloodline activated. "We earned this Jiraiya-sensei, you can't just take it away from us because he tells you to."

Sasuke's gaze shifted to Naruto. "What right do you have to-"

"**Continue looking at me with those eyes, Uchiha, and I'll break you in half!**" The demon child roared. "**I have every right in the world to demand such things from your teacher; **_**you**_** on the other hand, have no right to even speak to me.**" Naruto's hand wrapped around the boy's throat. "**I'll crush you like a bug, you worthless-**"

"I'll do it!" Ino screamed.

Naruto's eyes lazily drifted to the girl.

"You can enter the exams in my place, just please, don't hurt Sasuke!"

The demon container continued to regard the blonde for a few seconds before letting the Uchiha fall to the ground.

"**Fine by me.**" He shrugged before vanishing in a maelstrom of crimson light.


	13. To trust a demon

**AN**: Another quick update. At the risk of jinxing myself, I think I'll be able to post a chapter at least once a week. Thanks for all of the reviews on the last chapter, it's always nice to know that my work is appreciated. Not much action in this chapter I'm afraid but I felt like it was necessary in order to tie up a few loose ends. Originally this chapter was going to be very long but in the end I decided to cut it into two chapters. Anyway I hope you enjoy the chapter.

* * *

Sarutobi let out a smoke filled sigh as he continued to watch the chaotic scene unfold. For the past six hours the old man had been forced to listen to nearly every single clan head question his mental status, or barring that insult his intelligence directly. Looking back, the Sandaime took note that virtually every single "meeting" involving Konoha's jinchuuriki eventually degraded into this.

Suffice to say, Naruto's sudden decision to partake of the Chunin exams was not well received by the general public. Within two hours of the boy's official introduction into Team 7, the number of Leaf nin who were participating in the exam was almost negligible. In fact, out of the twenty-three teams that were originally entered only five of them remained.

This bit of information wasn't exceptionally surprising. Actually, what surprised the Hokage more was the fact that there were still Konoha teams that chose to take the exam.

Within the village hidden in the Leaves, Naruto had a fearsome reputation. He was regarded from afar with the sort of careful respect that one would expect to see in a man who was being stared down by a tiger. Even the ANBU, the Hokage's right hand, wouldn't walk along the same street as him. This… thing wasn't human. It didn't feel a shred of remorse for the atrocities it had committed nor did it show an inkling of restraint when faced with an opponent. Naruto was a mindless, heartless killing machine; nothing more.

This was the reason why Sarutobi was so surprised that fifteen Konoha nin had elected to remain in the exams. What was even more shocking was the fact that three of these teams were not only rookie squads, but also the future heirs to all of Konoha's most prominent clans. Hence the reason why all of the clan heads, excluding Aburame Shibi, were in an uproar over this decision.

Sarutobi couldn't exactly fault them for being so upset. Apart from Jiraiya, he was the only person who fought with the boy and lived. He knew exactly how scary the boy could be.

The sound of a fist slamming against the table jarred the old man from his thoughts.

"This is bullshit!" A very irate Inuzuka Tsume spat. "How can you let a monster like that compete against our children? People die during these exams Sarutobi. To be put in the same room with that…_thing_ is a death sentence!"

"You would do well to remember whom you're speaking with Inuzuka-san." Homura said warningly. "You will show the proper respect towards the Hokage."

"Like hell I will!" The Inuzuka matriarch shot back. "I don't care if he's Kami itself, I'm not gonna sit on my ass and let that demon kill my son!"

A few heads nodded in agreement.

In the chair to Sarutobi's right Jiraiya leaned forward towards the fuming Tsume. "Hold your tongue Inuzuka" he growled dangerously. "I won't let slide another comment like that."

Tsume's eyes narrowed at the toad sage but she did as he said.

Danzo spoke, for once in agreement with his Hokage. "You're allowing your emotions to control you, Inuzuka-san. As a ninja, you know full the dangers that come with this line of work. The prospect of death is something that you should've come to grips with long ago."

Tsume grit her teeth. "Of course I'm prepared for the eventuality of death you idiot, But that _doesn't_ mean that I'm going to go traipsing through Iwa. I'm prepared to die, my son is prepared to die, everyone at this table is prepared to die but that doesn't mean we actively seek out death!"

Again, the other clan heads nodded.

Jiraiya frowned. "Your actions say otherwise."

A uniform look of confusion spread across the faces of those who were present.

"Naruto," the Sannin continued. "has never been one to take "no" for an answer. He's a proud creature; so proud in fact that the act of debating this issue might be enough of an insult to warrant our deaths. I know Naruto better than anyone here. I know _exactly _how scary that boy can be when he's denied something that he wants. That is why I _know_ that we cannot bar Naruto from the exams. He would raze Konoha to the ground just to spite us."

"However, I don't think that this is the case. Naruto rarely takes interest in ninja matters, so for him to demand so suddenly that he be placed in the exams… It just doesn't fit. If the boy wanted to kill Leaf nin he would've just done so. Therefore, I can only conclude that this isn't about killing; well, at least not entirely."

"Though it seems strange, I don't think any of your children will be in any real danger as long as they avoid Naruto. I know him, or to be more specific I know how much he hates fighting a week opponent. Naruto won't go out of his way to attack your children; he's too proud for that."

For a long time nobody spoke; all of them too busy trying to digest the toad sage's words.

"Jiraiya-sama." The monotone voice of Aburame Shibi broke the silence. "Logic dictates that the only person who knows of the boy's motives better than you would be the boy himself." The air became noticeably tense. "I suggest that we bring Naruto here so that he himself can tell us his intentions."

Shikaku sent the man an incredulous look. "Is this what passes for humor in the Aburame clan? Surely you can't be serious."

"Of course I'm serious." The insect wielder replied. "If what Jiraiya-sama says is true, we are either safe or we are as good as dead already. In either case, Naruto has already decided our fates."

Again a long silence descended on the table.

Shikaku finally spoke. "Let Naruto explain himself."

Choza looked at his old friend before he also spoke. "If both the Nara and the Aburame see no fault in this decision I must also agree with them."

Hyuuga Hiashi gave the faintest of nods. "I can only hope that your words are true Jiraiya-sama"

Yamanaka Inoichi also nodded. "From what my daughter told me, the beast is not bound by his thirst for blood. She has met him on several occasions and not once did the boy harm her. For me, that is enough."

Both Koharu and Homura nodded.

"The world thinks us weak." Danzo spoke. "but this boy, he is powerful. We must show our enemies that Konoha is still a force to be reckoned with. We must allow the boy to compete."

Tsume scoffed. "You've all gone mad! This boy is a killer and yet all of you are ready to welcome him with open arms. I haven't forgotten what that monster did to my clan. I won't let more lives be lost on the basis of fear."

"We are the counsel." Jiraiya stated. "The Hokage must be the one who decides."

All eyes in the room fell on Sarutobi.

The old man breathed out another cloud of smoke before answering. "ANBU."

A ninja with a tiger mask appeared. "Yes Hokage-sama?"

"Bring Uzumaki Naruto to me."

"Of course Hokage-sama." The ANBU replied before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

Not two minutes later a pillar of ruby chakra erupted from the center of the room, signaling the arrival of Konoha's monster.

Upon seeing the boy many of the faces present contorted into a look of utter hatred.

Naruto grinned at their reaction. Humans were such amusing creatures. His crimson gaze shifted to the Sandaime. "Why have you called me here, Sarutobi?"

The old man spoke in a tired voice. "You know why you've been called here Naruto. Please don't waste our time."

The jinchuuriki's grin only widened. "Well since you said please…"

The boy put his hands behind his back and walked towards the large bay window behind the Hokage's main desk. The scarlet-orange light of the dieing sun filtered through the window, reflecting off of the smoke and soot that filled the room and making it seem as though the entire office was filled with neon mist.

"You're worried about what I might do during the exams." The boy said without turning away from the window.

A murmur of agreement flowed through the room.

Naruto gave an amused chuckle. "And to think, your race labels mine as the proud one."

"What do you mean Uzumaki-sama?" Shibi questioned emotionlessly.

"Uzumaki-_sama_ you say? My my, we are formal, aren't we Aburame-san." The demon container turned to face the man. "Allow me to answer your question with one of my own; does anyone here think that they can stand before my power?"

The tension in the air grew thick, and although there were many angry faces among the clan heads, no one said anything.

Again Naruto grinned. "I thought as much. None of you have the strength to face me. None of you are worth the mess you'll make, and yet for some reason you think your _children_ are. I don't know whether I should laugh or be insulted."

Hiashi's peal eyes narrowed. "You're saying that you will not harm our children?"

The boy's eyes widened in mock surprise. "Oh heavens no Hyuuga-san! Rest assured that if your children cross me they will die. I simply meant that their not worth my time. As long as they don't get in my way, I'll have no reason to kill them."

"You're treading on thin ice boy." Tsume snarled. "If I catch even a whisper that you're planning to harm my son, I'll kill you without a second thought."

Small sparks of vermillion light began to jump across the boy's body, and with a sound akin to steel on stone Naruto's talons sprang from his hands.

"Is that a fact?" The jinchuuriki whispered dangerously. "I give you my word and still you question my motives. Kiba is my teammate. If I kill him I won't be able to enter the finals. And believe me when I tell you that that is the only thing that's keeping me from ripping him apart."

That last comment was the breaking point.

Tsume howled in rage and leapt for the boy. Naruto made no motion to dodge and the Inuzuka matriarch rammed her kunai deep into the boy's chest.

Naruto's vice-like grip wrapped around the woman's wrist and with an audible crack snapped her wrist as the bones were made of straw.

Tsume didn't even have time register the damage that had been done to her wrist before white hot pain exploded from her chest. She looked down, dazedly realizing that Naruto had lodged five razor-sharp claws firmly in her stomach.

Even as ANBU began to come out of the woodwork the boy remained eerily calm. He leaned closer to Tsume.

"If you survive the night, you are forgiven"

And with that he let the woman fall to the ground.

The Inuzuka's body didn't even have time to touch the floor before being caught by an ANBU guard. The man disappeared through the forest of animal masks, and the remaining ANBU slowly began to advance on the boy.

Naruto's hands formed a window-like seal. "I think I've played this game before, and if I recall correctly I think I won. **Want to press your luck and try again?**"

"Halt!"

The ANBU did so; heeding the word of their Hokage immediately.

Sarutobi rubbed his eyes wearily, making a shooing gesture with his other hand. "Your services are no longer required."

Without a word the ANBU disappeared.

Naruto's grin faded and he dropped the seal. "Not worth my time anyway."

"Naruto." Jiraiya sighed. "If you want people to do things for you it's not exactly a good idea to attack them."

The boy sent his mentor a hard look. "I was defending myself. I was under the impression that a shinobi had the right to defend himself." His gaze shifted to the council "I'm not wrong, am I?"

The cloud of insects behind Shibi slowly retreated into his coat. "What Uzumaki-sama says is true. Although she was goaded into attacking him, Inuzuka-san should've been able to control herself better."

The other clan heads sent the man a wary look.

"Logically, if Uzumaki-sama wanted us dead he wouldn't have canceled his jutsu."

That argument seemed to carry a bit more weight, and gradually the other ninja relaxed their guard.

"So," Naruto grinned. "Do I make the cut?"

XXXXXXX

"It's a genjutsu." Sasuke whispered to his teammate.

"I know." Kiba growled, annoyed at the other boy's lack of faith in him.

Team 7 currently found themselves standing on the second floor of the academy, the path in front of them blocked by a mass of Genin standing outside a door labeled 301.

"C'mon!" one of the Genin whined. "Let us through so we can take the exam!"

One of the two Genin who were standing guard in front of the room laughed. "No way!" He jeered. "If you guys are this weak then you have no right to be in these exams"

"He's right." The other Genin said darkly. "People die in these exams you know."

The boy's words had the desired effect and a few of the Genin started shaking.

"R-really?" One of the boys asked.

"Really." A steel-hard voice answered from behind him.

The crowd turned to face the newcomers.

"I suggest you all get out of my way." Naruto stated coldly.

A Mist nin stepped forwards. "Oh yeah! And just what are you gonna do if we don't?"

In one fluid motion the jinchuuriki wrapped his hand around the boy's throat and slammed the Genin's head through a nearby wall. The boy's limbs twitched sporadically for a few seconds before his body went still. Less than a second passed before the other squads began scrambling to get out of the way of Naruto and his team.

As they began to climb the next flight of stairs, both Kiba and Sasuke began to get the distinct feeling that Kami hated them.

XXXXXXX

As a Genin, Kiba had never been very fond of room 301. Back when they were academy students, this was the room where they took all of their written exams. Even though it had been changed since he'd graduated, Kiba couldn't help but recall the hours of boredom that he'd endured in this room.

"Yoo hoo! Sasuke-kun! Kiba!"

The Inuzuka's eyes widened when he heard that voice.

'_There's no way_.' Slowly the boy turned to face a familiar blonde girl.

"Ino?" a smile spread on the boy's face. "How did you get here? I thought you weren't going to be in the exams after…" his eyes shifted towards Naruto. "You know."

"Oh that wasn't a very big problem. After all," she winked. "I'm the number one kunoichi of our graduating class."

"And yet somehow she still manages to be troublesome." Shikamaru drawled as he and Chouji took their place behind Ino. This comment earned him an elbow to the ribs and a few less than ladylike phrases about laziness and pineapple hair.

Kiba laughed at his friend's predicament. "You better be careful what you say around her Shika. She might just kick your ass."

Shikamaru was about to say something but the sudden opening of the door drew his attention. His pupils shrank as Shino, Hinata, and a certain pink-haired kunoichi walked through the door.

"Troublesome." He mumbled in a far off tone.

Chouji also seemed to shrink back.

"What?" Kiba turned to look at the new arrival and slowly it dawned on him. "Oh crap."

"SASUKE-KUN!" Sakura cried as she launched herself on to the Uchiha's back.

In spite of the fact that he had a flailing girl on his back Sasuke actually managed to remain looking fairly cool.

Sorta.

"Hey get off him forehead-girl! Sauske-kun's mine!" Ino yelled as she too glomped on to Sasuke.

The sound of derisive laughter sounded from behind Kiba.

"Don't tell me you're just going to leave him to his fate, Inuzuka." The boy scowled as he looked toward his other teammate.

Naruto grinned. "Even I'm not that cruel."

Kiba continued to glare at the demon child and slowly the boy's smile faded. "But seriously, if you don't shut them up soon I'm going to kill someone."

"Yosh!" exclaimed a spandex clad Genin who seemed to have materialized from out of nowhere. "What an unyouthful reaction to such a beautiful displays of affection! You should be asham-" The boy's speech was cut short by a girl's hand clamping down over his mouth."

"You'll have to forgive Lee." She laughed nervously. "He's kind of an Idiot."

Naruto looked at the strange looking ninja in the girl's grasp and then back to her.

"So it would seem. For his own safety, don't let him near me again."

"Yeah, no problem." The girl replied quickly before pulling her struggling teammate off into the crowd.

'_Humans. Killer-eight you must be even more sadistic than I am._'

"Hey! You kids want to settle down a bit!" A boy with glasses and silver hair called out as he walked towards the group of enthusiastic Genin. The rookie squads all turned to look at him.

Naruto's eyes locked with those of the newcomer and a wicked smile slowly spread across his face. "What are you up to, snake in the grass?"

With the exception of Naruto, nobody else noticed the brief look of horror that crossed the boy's face.

"Snake in the grass? No no you got it all wrong. I'm a Leaf nin just like you guys, we gotta look out for one another you know? I just thought I should tell you guys to calm down a bit. A lot of the people here are itching for a fight so you don't want to give them any reason to start one with you." The boy rubbed the back of his head. "I made that mistake my first time through and wound up in the hospital before the exams had even started."

"Your first time?" Chouji questioned. "If you don't mind me asking, how many times have you taken the exam mister, uh-"

"Kabuto." The bespectacled shinobi answered. "And I've taken the exam seven times."

A small smile formed on Sasuke's face. "Then you must know a thing or two about the exams right?"

"Maybe a little bit." Kabuto adopted a modest look. "Well, The exam itself changes from year to year but I can tell you what I know about the other teams." He pulled a stack of white cardboard from his pocket. "These are my ninja info cards. Everything that you could ever want to know about the competition is sealed inside these." He drew a card from the top of the deck and after channeling some chakra into it a map of the five great shinobi nations appeared.

"Pretty cool huh?"

"Perhaps." Sasuke responded. "Do you have any information on the applicants themselves?"

"Of course. Is there anyone in particular that you want me to look up?"

"Uzumaki Naruto." The Uchiha answered.

The group of Genin turned to look at the boy in question. For his part, Naruto didn't seem to care all that much.

"Shooting high, eh, Uchiha?" The demon child grinned. "I think I've been insulted."

"Don't cross him." Kabuto said in a cold voice. "He's a jinchuuriki."

A confused look came over Sakura's face. "A jinchuuriki? What's that?"

"A jinchuuriki is a person who has a tailed beast sealed inside them. You guys might've been too young to remember what Naruto did when he was a child, but me…" Kabuto shivered. "Don't fight him. If you're lucky he'll only kill you."

The group went silent. One by one his fellow Leaf nin began to back away from him.

Naruto didn't even seem notice them.

No, he was far too interested in the red haired boy who continued to stare at him.


	14. Torture

**AN**: Here you go guys, another new chapter. It gets kinda silly toward the end (hopefully everyone will get the reference) but I still think that it works by itself. I thought it was hilarious but hey, I'm biased. Anyway thanks for all the support and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

* * *

Gaara's scowl deepened as his malevolent jade eyes continued to burn into those of the blonde. There was something about the boy, something about his presence that made Gaara want to crush the life out of him. Perhaps it was his insufferable grin, his unnecessarily loud clothing, or perhaps it was merely the way he carried himself, but one thing was certain: this boy _would_ die.

Unconsciously, a few tendrils of sand began to pour out from the gourd on his back; reacting to the rising bloodlust within the one whom they called master. Slowly, like a desert viper, the sand slithered through the crowd of Genin towards the grinning boy.

"Why are you smiling, you idiot?" The redhead whispered mockingly as his own face twisted into a grin. "Don't you realize your going to die?"

To his right, Temari took a few steps back. "Are you okay Gaara?"

Her brother didn't even seem to hear her.

"You won't be smiling much longer." The Suna nin hissed. "How will you taste, I wonder. Delicious. Your blood will satisfy mother. Gaara is a good boy, isn't he mother?"

The sand slowly wrapped its way around the boy's leg, but instead of reacting in terror, as Gaara had expected, his grin only seemed to widen. The coil of sand that continued to climb up his leg was all but ignored, forgotten as the boy's eyes once again locked with his own.

It had been a long time since redhead had been afraid. After all, with mother watching over him what use did he have for an emotion like fear? Nothing could hurt him, nothing could stop him. But those eyes, those sinister crimson eyes, inside of them lay something truly scary.

The sand on the boy's leg fell to the ground and disappeared back into the crowd; a fact that went completely unnoticed by the boy as his ruby eyes remained securely on his own. Gaara took a step back, a look of blank horror forming on his face as the boy took a step forward.

"G-Gaara?" Kankuro asked nervously. "What's the matter?"

The puppeteer's blood ran cold. His psychotic little brother wasn't afraid of anything, he couldn't be. After their father, Gaara was the strongest ninja in all of Suna. He'd seen grown men break down in tears at the sight of his brother, he'd seen ninja throw their lives away rather than be paired with Gaara for a mission. What in the name of Kami could possibly be worse than Gaara?

He followed his brother's wide eyed gaze, and instantly wished he hadn't. Fangs barred, eyes alight with wicked intent, the object of Gaara's terror unhurriedly walked closer as the crowd of Genin hurried to get out of his way.

Gaara's mind was a mess of emotions. One part of him screamed for the boy's blood. It yearned to feel his fragile body shatter under the unrelenting pressure of the desert sand; hungered for his body to be coated in the sticky heat of the boy's blood. And yet another part of him railed against the idea. It was like a panicky whisper inside his head, pleading with him to leave this place, leave this boy, and run far far away.

Naruto's eyes glimmered dangerously. '_Such hate and fear in your eyes, little desert rat. I do hope you aren't planning to do something…stupid_.'

The scowl on Gaara's face returned as the boy got closer still. "If you take another step, I'll kill you."

The demon child came to a stop. Still grinning, Naruto slowly tilted his head. "Kill me?" he chuckled softly, "Do you think this course of action wise, desert rat?"

Gaara's sand swirled around him angrily. "Who are you?"

Naruto shook his head theatrically. "People are so rude these days. If you want my name, perhaps you should give me yours first."

The Sand nin said nothing.

"So impolite." The demon vessel sighed. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I trust that now you'll tell me yours?"

"Gaara." The boy deadpanned. "Sabaku no Gaara."

"Sabaku no Gaara." Naruto repeated. "Well then Gaara, if you ever try to kill me again I'll make you wish you'd never been born."

The sand on the floor began to move. "Is that a fact?"

Naruto's only response was to extend his claws.

Suddenly a massive cloud of smoke exploded from the front of the room, signaling the arrival of nearly three dozen leaf nin. A muscular man whose face was littered with scars stepped out of the smoke.

An ugly sneer came onto the man's face. "Fun's over maggots! Now shut up and form ranks!"

The throng of Chunin hopefuls tore their attention away from the jinchuuriki staring contest and began to quickly get into position.

Naruto smirked and began to walk away. "It seems that you'll have to kill me another time, desert rat."

Gaara's eyes narrowed. "So it seems."

Gradually the ninja in the room began to quiet down.

The large man at the front of the room nodded. "Good. Now then, my name is Morino Ibiki: head of Konoha's torture and interrogation division of ANBU black ops as well as the proctor for the first stage of the Chunin exams."

Ibiki turned to the blackboard and quickly scribbled out a few lines of text. The fist line simply read "Plans built on uncertainty are doomed to failure." The second line read "Everyone breaks eventually."

He placed the chalk back in its tray and turned to face the crowd. "Can anybody tell me what the first line means?"

Sakura was the one to answer. "The first line that you wrote is the 14th rule of shinobi conduct. It means that if you don't have the proper Intel for a situation then you can't develop a sound plan of action."

Ibiki smirked. "Very good. But how do you know if your information is accurate?"

Sakura gave the man a blank look.

"By makin' the enemy tell it to you straight." Replied a gruff voice.

Ibiki turned his attention to the mohawked Cloud nin who answered. "And how are you going to accomplish that?"

"By torturing him."

A few of the Genin squirmed and Ibiki smiled darkly. "That's correct. In the ninja world nothing is more precious than information. The success of the mission, as well as your lives and the lives of your teammates, will often depend on quality of the data that you've been given. With the right knowledge, a man can infiltrate a fortress with no trouble at all. Likewise, if you have no knowledge of a situation or even worse, false knowledge there's a very good chance that your mission will end in failure."

The scarred man again wrote on the board, continuing to speak as he did so. "Assassin, mercenary, saboteur, thief," He paused and circled that last one. "and spy."

"No doubt you all recognize these as the five basic roles of a ninja. This is why information is such a commodity," he tapped the circled word. "Because we're surrounded by liars. Sometimes while you're out in the field you'll be forced to interrogate an enemy in order to come up with a sufficient plan. But here's the kicker, your prisoner is a liar by trade, and you can be damned sure that he's try his best to get you killed. So as ninja, it's absolutely vital that you can differentiate between what is true and what is a lie."

"There is another side to this." Ibiki tapped the second line of text. "If you ever find yourself at the mercy of the enemy this is the only thing that is constant. No matter who you are, no matter what clan you come from, no matter what rank you are, the fact will remain; _everyone_ breaks."

Ibiki caught sight of the still madly grinning Naruto.

'_Well almost everyone._'

"If you are captured, your only chance will be to stall until either your allies arrive, or you figure out how to escape. In both cases this must be done quickly. Both the human mind, and the human body are surprisingly fragile."

"Here is the test. Out of every three man squad, one of you will be selected to play the role of the prisoner. The prisoner will be given two pieces of information; the room number in which their interrogator's teammate is being held, and also the room number in which the next stage of the exams take place. In order to pass this portion of the exam you must arrive at the correct location with your missing teammate within one hour of the exam starting. If neither team is able to break their prisoner and discover the room in which their captured teammate is being held, then both teams will fail."

"Let me get this straight," A Grass nin called out. "Someone in our squad is going to be _tortured_! You can't be serious!"

A murmur of agreement passed through the crowd.

Ibiki smiled. "Oh I'm dead serious, but if you don't like feel free to leave."

He waited for a few seconds but nobody moved.

"Excellent, now it's time for the rules. Rule one: you can't kill your prisoner. Do so and you'll be charged with murder."

"Damn it!" cried a frustrated voice.

A few teams laughed at the outburst but the majority of the Genin looked afraid.

"Rule two: You can't cause any permanent injury to your prisoner. Anything like blinding, crippling, or deforming will also result in an immediate disqualification. You _are_ allowed to give your prisoner a couple of new scars if you like, just nothing that will impede their abilities as a ninja."

"Rule three: There is nothing that prevents the prisoner from trying to escape, in fact this is encouraged. Since the prisoner will be given the room number of his own team and the room number in which the next phase begins, those who escape can easily pass the test."

"Any questions?"

Naruto stepped forward. "You said that it was forbidden to kill the prisoner. If you are the prisoner is it also forbidden to kill your captors?"

Ibiki rubbed his eyes tiredly. "No. If you're the prisoner it is legal to kill your captors."

Many of the faces in the crowd went pale and a few teams walked out of the room.

"Though it is not encouraged it is legal to kill your captors. There will be ninja stationed inside every single room, so if you feel that you are in danger of being killed you are able to forfeit. If you do so the proctor in your room will break up the fight."

"Now if there's nothing else, we will begin pairing the teams."

A Chunin took out a clipboard and began to read a list of names. After a few minutes Naruto's ears perked up.

"Konoha Team 7 will pair with Iwa Team 2. The prisoners will be Uzumaki Naruto and Fabume Nashi. Will the prisoners please step forward?"

Both Kiba and Sasuke watched in disbelief as Naruto walked forward towards the proctor.

"It looks like we lucked out." Kiba whispered to his teammate. "If they're interrogating Naruto we're guaranteed a spot in the second round. He's gonna tear them apart."

Sasuke didn't answer; he just watched as the Chunin whispered the numbers into Naruto's ear before leading the Iwa team off to their deaths.

The proctor finished whispering the numbers into Nashi's ear and gestured at the pair to come over.

Sasuke nudged Kiba's arm. "Let's go mut. This is going to be ugly."

XXXXXX

The Kusa nin found himself in a tiny concrete room shackled to the wall. Glaring down at him were two of the scariest ninja that he'd ever laid eyes on. One of them, the smaller of the two giants, just leaned off in a corner mumbling something about rhymes as he scribbled something down in his note pad. The other one, the one with the mohawk and the beard who'd answered the questions earlier was standing uncomfortably close.

The Chunin proctor took a seat against the far wall and pulled out a stopwatch. "You may begin."

The big one turned to his teammate. "You want dis one Bee? I've done this shit so much it's not even fun anymore."

Killer Bee looked at Tee. Before he was "demoted" back to a Genin, Tee was the head of the Kumo ANBU interrogation unit. It went _way_ beyond unfair for him to use his skills against a Genin. Oh well, life sucks.

"Out in the field I'm the combat king, but interrogation is your thing. I'll just stay out of your way and let you go ahead and play."

"Suit yourself." The behemoth muttered. "You gonna talk?"

The Grass nin said nothing.

Tee sighed. "Man, I pity da foo' who doesn't talk to me."

The Cloud nin's massive mitt clamped down on the boy's head and after a few seconds a fountain of sparks began crackle and fizz. The boy screamed in agony as the lightning chakra began to attack the nerves in his brain, manipulating his nervous system into thinking that his entire body was in excruciating pain.

"I'll talk!" The boy screamed as he writhed against the wall. "Please I-I'll talk!"

Tee stopped channeling electricity through his hand and savagely wrenched the boy's head up by his hair.

"You gonna talk now?"

Tears continued to roll down the boy's cheeks. "The second stage is in room 78. Your partner is being held in room 32."

Tee quirked an eyebrow and sparks began to pour from his free hand. "I think your lying."

The grass nin's eyes went wide. "No! Please don't hurt me again. I'm telling the truth, I swear!"

Tee's hand inched closer. "Why should I believe you?"

His prisoner began howling in terror as tears once again to began to trickle down his face.

"I've got no reason to lie!" he sobbed brokenly.

Tee let go of the boy's hair and turned to Bee. "He's tellin' the truth."

The Kumo jinchuuriki quickly wrote down the rest of his rap before flipping the notebook closed and following his teammate out of the room.

XXXXXX

Shikamaru grunted as again the Taki nin's fist slammed across his face.

"Give us the numbers." The large boy demanded.

The lazy Genin spat a bit of blood onto the floor. "Sorry, but it's too troublesome. I'm more afraid of the beating that I'd receive from Ino than I am of you."

"Oh really?" The other boy grinned as he pulled out a kunai. "Well I guess we're gonna have to cut it out of you."

'_Me and my big mouth_.'

"Be careful Mizikai, if you kill him we'll get disqualified." The larger boy warned.

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry. I'm just gonna mess up his face a little bit. Ya know, make it difficult for him to get a date."

The kunai drew closer and closer to Shikamaru's face and the suddenly the steel door swung open.

"Heeey Shikamaru. Are you having a good time with these guys?"

The two Taki nin whipped around, their eyes wide and their mouths agape. They got beaten by a fat guy and a chick! "No way! You guys broke Agamo already!"

Chouji grinned as the proctor released his friend from the restraints. "Well yeah, of course we did. Ino's a mind-reader so figuring out what the numb-"

Ino elbowed him in the stomach. "Honestly Chouji how did you ever become a ninja? C'mon Shikamaru, let's get out of here while we still have some of our secrets intact."

The shadow user rubbed his bruised jaw and began to follow after his team.

'_Troublesome girl_.'

XXXXXXX

Neji watched dispassionately as Tenten continued to whip senbon into a Kiri shinobi. It had been almost ten minutes since the exam began and in that time the girl had done a pretty good job of turning the ninja into a cactus.

His arms and legs were littered with needles, so many in fact that it was nothing short of a miracle that the boy was still able to stand. Neji winced as one of the senbon came dangerously close to hitting his… to hitting something very painful indeed. If nothing else, the Hyuuga had to admire this idiot's dedication.

"Aw man, I missed." Tenten mumbled. "Maybe if I aim little lower…"

The Mist nin's eyes widened in horror. "Okay, okay! I'll talk."

Neji activated his byakugan and stepped forward. "I'm listening."

"The room where your teammate is being held is room 23, to get to the next phase of the exam you need to go to room 45."

"He's lying." Neji stated.

The Mist nin cried out in pain as a chakra coated finger jammed into the juncture between his neck and shoulder.

"B-but I'm telling the tru-" Again the boy's scream cut off the end of what he was saying.

Neji retracted his fingers. "My eyes are all-seeing so lying will be of no use to you. I also advise you to tell us the real numbers, or else Tenten might make your life very miserable."

The bun-haired girl pulled out a war hammer and winked at the boy.

"Oh fuck this, I'm not getting my balls crushed over a test. The real numbers are 65 and 78. Room 65 is where you teammate is being held."

Neji looked at Tenten. "That was the truth."

The girl pouted as she followed the Hyuuga out of the room. That was actually kinda fun.

XXXXXX

Temari and Kankuro leaned against the wall, patently watching the Rain nin who was affixed to the wall. As soon as the exam had begun Kankuro had injected a hallucinogenic toxin into the girl and now it was time to play the waiting game.

The poison that now flowed through the girl's veins was incredibly dangerous and if left alone it would kill her. The venom's effect was twofold, not only did it attack the nervous system, causing delusions, but it also attacked the muscles, something that was, if the girl's violent twitches were any indication, very painful. Eventually the poison would leave her brain dead but the toxin didn't reach that stage of damage for nearly a week; ample time to keep her from dieing.

The sound of the steel door scraping open suddenly had both them on high alert. Either the Rain team had broken Gaara, unlikely as it may be, or Gaara had broken the Rain team. Literally.

The sickeningly sweet smell of freshly spilled blood told them that it was the latter.

Kankuro got up and injected the girl with the antidote before turning to face his brother.

Other than a few smears of blood on his clothes, Gaara looked completely unchanged.

"Temari, Kankuro, we're leaving." He drawled neutrally.

The pair exchanged an uneasy look before following their brother out of the room.

XXXXXX

Team 8 had been very unlucky. As it was, Hinata had been chosen to be the other team's prisoner, and while the girl was a kindhearted friend, they all knew that she was the weakest member of their team.

It had taken the other team only fifteen minutes to break the girl.

Shino cradled the bloodied girl gently as he undid her manacles and set her on the floor. Without another word he moved to the side so that Sakura could begin her work on healing the girl.

"I-I'm r-r-really sorry." Hinata stuttered through tears. "I-I'm a failure."

Sakura wiped a tear from her teammate's eye. "Shhh. Don't worry about it Hinata. I don't blame you for what happened and neither does Shino. Just rest up and concentrate on feeling better."

Hinata gave her a meek nod but still didn't stop crying.

In the grand scheme of things it wasn't that bad. After all, the next exam was only six months away, and at least then they wouldn't have to deal with that psycho Naruto.

XXXXXX

Naruto watched in a sort of detached amusement as the Iwa nin buried a kunai to its hilt in his arm.

"Tell me the numbers!" The ninja screamed, again ramming his blade into the boy's body.

"Oh come now," Naruto jeered. "Surely you can do better that?"

The Stone nin tore the blade out of his prisoner's chest and drove it into the jinchuuriki's groin.

Once more Naruto didn't even flinch.

"How quaint." The boy smirked. "Care to try again?"

His captor cried out in rage as he threw the kunai to the ground. What the fuck was _wrong_ with this kid! They'd been alternating between beating and stabbing him for the past twenty minutes and still the boy showed no sign of telling them the numbers.

A sharp metallic crack drew the Iwa nin's attention. The boy didn't even have time to react before Naruto's claws connected with his head, splitting the Genin's skull into five neatly sliced sections.

The other Stone nin opened his mouth to say something but soon found himself unable, seeing as how the boy's words were quite literally punched back down his throat.

Naruto tore his gore drenched arm out of the Iwa nin's chest, letting the boy's carcass fall haphazardly onto the floor.

He turned to face the now armed Chunin proctor. " No no, don't get up, I'll let myself out."

XXXXXX

Sasuke groaned in frustration as he regarded their prisoner. Within the first few minutes of the exam it had become apparent that Nashi had some kind of kekkei genkai. Kiba had nearly broken his fist when he first punched the boy, and it seemed that not even blades could pierce his rock-hard skin.

They'd had to make due with his minimal knowledge of genjutsu which, even with his sharingan active, had been all but ineffectual.

Door behind him slammed open and in walked their missing teammate.

A small smile came across Kiba's face. "Well I guess we pass. Where's the next stage of the exams being held Nar- I mean, Uzumaki-sama."

A vicious grin spread across the jinchuuriki's face as his eyes settled on the Iwa nin.

"I can't seem to remember." He murmured in a far off manner. "Perhaps I can get him to tell us."

The shackled Stone nin sent Sasuke a confused look. "What's he mean? I thought you guys won."

The Uchiha just shook his head. "Believe me when I say that I'm sorry kid." He took a few steps back. "Have at him Uzumaki-sama."

Naruto walked forward and effortlessly jammed his talons into the boy's arm.

Nashi screamed in pain as the boy slowly retracted the blades from his arm.

"What is the number?"

The sudden loss of blood caused the boy to feel like he was underwater.

"W-what?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "What country are you from?"

Nashi's shook his head in confusion. "What? What do y- What-"

The jinchuuriki slammed his fist through the wall near the boy's head.

"What ain't no county I've ever heard of! They speak English in what!"

The stone nin's eyes darted to the boy's arm. "What?"

Naruto's claws slashed across Nashi's face. "English motherfucker, do you speak it!"

The Stone nin recoiled in pain "Yes! Yes!"

"So you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes!"

Naruto turned and began to walk away. "So perchance you could tell me what the magic number is?"

'_Magic number? I thought he wanted to know where I came from._'

The boy's head swung to the side. "What?"

Naruto whipped around, hurling a steel globe at near mach speed toward the Iwa nin. The cannonade missed the boy's head by mere centimeters, all but demolishing the concrete wall behind him.

"Say 'what' again. Say 'what' again, I dare you, I double dare you motherfucker, say what one more Goddamn time!"

"Room 78!" Nashi cried "Room 78 just please leave me alone!"

Naruto turned back to his wide eyed teammates. "Oh silly me, how could I forget, but I guess it doesn't really matter now."

And with that Naruto left the room.


	15. Training ground 44

**AN**: Holy shit on a shit sandwich! The response I got on that last chapter was better than anything I could've hoped for. I'm happy that the Pulp fiction reference went over so well, even though it was kind of out of place. You guys made my day. Anyway, here's the next chapter. I was planning for this to be part of a larger chapter but that would've made it way to long for my tastes.

* * *

For Sasuke and Kiba, the walk to room 78 was anything but pleasant. The corridor that provided access to the numerous interrogation chambers was dark and cramped; their only source of light coming from the occasional light bulb that buzzed on the ceiling overhead. Shadows twisted and slithered across the grimy stone floor, formless terrors brought to life by the unsettling red glow that came from Naruto's eyes. Every few seconds the silent atmosphere was broken by an anguished scream coming from inside one of the rooms, a sound that was only half as unnerving as the blonde's amused chuckling that followed shortly thereafter. Both Genin were beginning to feel extremely claustrophobic at the thought of being in such close proximity with their teammate; Kiba much more so than the ever calm Sasuke.

The sticky sweet stench of gore that wafted back from the jinchuuriki was wreaking havoc on his heightened senses. Again a scream reverberated around the hallway, the sound magnified a hundred times thanks to his keen ears. In his jacket, Akamaru whined pitifully as Naruto once again began to chuckle. The little dog's hearing was far better than his own, and as such only Akamaru was able to pick up the barest hints of a predator's growl in the boy's droning laughter.

Kiba's eyes narrowed as he continued to stare at the back of Naruto's head. At the moment, he wanted nothing more than to drive a kunai up to its hilt in the boy's skull. It was a cruel joke that Kami had gifted the boy with such unimaginable power. Naruto was a monster who killed those who were weaker than himself for little more than sport. Kiba clenched his teeth as thoughts of his hospitalized mother were dragged to the forefront of his mind. The Inuzuka were fiercely loyal to their friends, and even more so to one another. For this…thing to attack the matriarch of their clan was an unforgivable crime, and as soon as he was able to, Kiba would exact the clan's vengeance on the boy.

From inside one of the rooms, there was a loud metallic bang followed by terrified cry of "they're eating my head!" Both Kiba and Sasuke took a few steps back as Naruto burst out into hysterical laughter, mumbling something about pirates and good times.

Kiba shuddered. Man was he not looking forward that.

Sasuke's mind was filled with similar thoughts. As much as he hated Naruto, he feared him even more so. And the thought sickened him. The sharingan wielder felt anger beginning to flow through his veins. He was an Uchiha, how could he be so weak? They'd been torturing that Iwa Genin for twenty minutes to no avail, Naruto shows up and after twenty _seconds_ the boy would've been willing to kill his own grandmother. How could the gap in their levels of power be so ridiculous?

'_Hate me Sasuke. Only then will you be strong enough to kill me._'

Unbeknownst to him, crimson color began to bleed into his eyes. He had to get stronger. He _needed_ to; needed to be powerful enough to kill the one who had stolen everything from him. If he couldn't even defeat Naruto, how could he hope to defeat Itachi?

Abruptly the demon child stopped, in act which caused the startled Uchiha to nearly run into him.

Not even bothering to turn around Naruto spoke, his voice as harsh and as bitter as ice. "It appears that you've forgotten about our little chat before the exam, Uchiha. I assure you, the next time you look upon me with those wretched eyes I will not hesitate to tear them from your skull."

It only took Sasuke a few seconds to realize that the boy was talking about his sharingan. His anger flared. How _dare_ that creature insult his eyes; insult his family's eyes. The sharingan was his most prized possession, it and it alone was the key to defeating his brother. There was no way, no fucking way, that he would let this monster besmirch the good name of his clan's kekkei genkai.

The sharp sound of metal screeching on metal drew the boy out of his inner ranting. Naruto was now facing him, talons extended and rage alight in his eyes.

Sasuke quickly deactivated his sharingan; his pride wasn't worth getting killed over. "My apologies Uzumaki-sama." His stomach churned as the honorific slid past his lips. "I was unaware that I had activated my sharingan. I hope that you can forgive me."

Naruto responded by slashing his claws across the Uchiha's face. Sasuke cried out and recoiled from the sudden burst of pain, his hand reflexively going up to the injury. The wounds were shallow, but that didn't make them any less painful. Five bloody gashes ran the length of the boy's face, the one in the middle barely missing his left eye.

Kiba pulled out a roll of gauze and moved quickly to bandage the wounds; partially worried about the damage that had been done to his teammate, but even more worried that Sasuke might do something stupid.

Naruto retracted his claws, looking at Sasuke with an emotion akin to boredom. "You walk the edge of a razor, Uchiha. Falter again and I'll show you just how _un_forgiving I can be."

With Kiba holding the gauze against his face, Sasuke could only nod in understanding.

The action seemed to satisfy their psychotic teammate who proceeded to turn his back on them and continue walking as if nothing had happened.

XXXXXX

Upon entering room 78, Team 7 immediately found themselves swarmed by medic nins. Or more specifically Sasuke and Kiba found themselves swarmed by medic nins while Naruto, the one who was covered in the most blood, was avoided like the plague.

In short order, the wounds on Sasuke's face were mended as was Kiba's hand, which he'd apparently managed to break after punching Nashi. The pair muttered a few words of thanks before moving off to find a place where they could wait out the rest of the first test.

A smirk spread across the Inuzuka's face as he caught sight of a familiar pineapple headed ninja sleeping on one of the desks. Kiba walked over to the desk and got as close to his friend's face as he could.

"Hey Shikamaru!"

The boy's head jerked up so quickly that he nearly fell out of his chair. Why did all of his friends have to be so troublesome?

Kiba snickered. "Man, only you would fall asleep during the Chunin exams. How'd a lazy-ass like you ever manage to pass the first test?"

Shikamaru just rolled his eyes before letting his head fall to the desk again. Not five seconds had passed before Shikamaru found that a small dog had been placed on his head. He was fully prepared to ignore it and continue to try and get some sleep but then Kiba said something about a "dynamic marking technique" and Shikamaru shot out of his chair as if he'd been electrocuted.

For his part, Kiba was satisfied with laughing his ass off, mumbling something about how it was better to be pissed off than pissed on. Shikamaru shot his friend a withering look. Only then did it occur to Kiba that it probably wasn't the best idea to have the class genius angry at him. This notion was reinforced when a good amount of killing intent spiked behind him.

Kiba slowly turned around. "Oh, uh, hi Ino."

"Hi Kiba." She chirped in an overly friendly voice. "You know I have to be around Shikamaru all day, which in and of itself is pretty awful."

"Thanks." Shikamaru quipped dryly.

"No problem." Ino replied. "But now he smells like pee. Kiba I don't like the smell of pee, do you?"

Kiba looked around nervously "Um, no?"

Ino grabbed the boy and leaned in close. "A word of advice Kiba, don't piss off someone who can make you kiss other boys."

The Inuzuka gulped before nodding vigorously.

"Good." Ino smiled, her mood doing a complete one-eighty "So what did you think of the exam?"

Kiba blinked a few times at the girl's abrupt change in demeanor but then shrugged it off as a chick thing.

"It was…" the thought of Naruto hurling a steel ball at their prisoner surfaced in his mind. "Interesting."

The blonde's eyes shifted toward Naruto, who was currently engaged in a staring contest with a very large Kumo nin. "Yeah, somehow I can see that." She looked back at Kiba. "So what happened?"

"Well you know how lucky me and Sasuke are. Our prisoner turned out to have some kind of bloodline that made his skin really hard, almost like stone or something." Kiba rubbed the back of his head. "I learned that the hard way when I broke my hand on his face. So anyway, kunai and fists are useless on this guy so Sasuke goes all Sharingan on him. Which turns out to be just about as useful as hitting him because our teacher, The legendary Jiraiya," he mimicked his sensei's voice. "Doesn't know genjutsu worth shit."

Ino rolled her eyes. Having genjutsu as her specialty made her acutely aware of just how lacking her old sensei was in that respect.

"So at this point we're basically setting on our hands and waiting for Naruto to show up. Eventually he does and we figure 'oh, Naruto's a normal person. He'll just tell us the room that we have to go to.' And so-"

Kiba stopped talking when he realized that Ino was staring at him like he had two heads.

The boy sighed "Yeah yeah, we're not very bright. Anyway, Naruto claims to have forgotten the room number and so he beats. The. Shit. Out of this guy. It wasn't even funny how quick he broke the kid."

Ino looked back at Naruto, who had changed partners and was now in a staring contest with a creepy looking red-haired kid. Boy did she not envy her old teammates.

"So how about you, how did you manage to pass the test with those two as your partners?" He nodded toward Chouji, who was busy feeding jerky to Akamaru, and Shikamaru, who was sleeping again.

After hearing Kiba's story Ino couldn't help but grin. "Actually, I just mind walked our guy. We were the second ones to get here after that Cloud team." She pointed toward them. "I don't think that you should mess with them. Something about that team seems off."

Kiba sent her a flat look. "Gee, what tipped you off? Could it be that the one with the mohawk has arms that are bigger than my torso? Or maybe it's that guy who has like, a dozen swords on his back? Perhaps it's the scary lady who's looking at Akamaru like she wants to eat him?"

The girl kicked him in the shin. "I'm serious you jerk! Don't mess around with those guys unless you have to."

"Fine, fine." Kiba growled as he willed away the pain in his leg. "You know for your own good, you should probably just stay away from our team. Naruto isn't going to kill me or Sasuke but I'm pretty sure that he won't extend the same treatment to you guys."

Ino nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right. Anyway did you-"

She was cut off by the sound of a loud explosion accompanied by a cloud of pink smoke. As the smoke cleared away a large banner with sparkly letters came into view. It read: **The sexy and single ****Mitarashi Anko**. Standing underneath the banner was a woman in a brown trench coat and a fishnet body suit; probably the sexy and single Mitarashi Anko from the sign.

"Alright you little bastards, it's time for round two! So quit gawking at me and let's go; this part is going to be even harder."

A Rain nin spoke up. "Wait, you mean it's starting now? But we didn't even get a chance to rest."

Anko made a crying gesture. "That's so sad." She whined. "I just wish that I gave a fuck. Now get off your asses and move! You've all got a date with training ground 44, better known as the Forest of Death."

XXXXXX

As Naruto continued to stare out into the labyrinth of plant life he felt his control begin to slip away. There was something about this forest that beckoned to him, something about it that had ensnared his senses. The forest was old, very old; an ancient place full of darkness and anger. The trees didn't even seem to be terrestrial. Giants twisted and gnarled by the cruel hand of time; creatures either too strong or too proud to let themselves wither away.

This was his domain. And these creatures, he looked toward the group of Genin, they were his prey.

Anko stood in front of them on a small, out of place tree stump. "Before we start the next portion of the exam I'm 'legally obligated'" She interjected sneer quotes. "To tell you that this portion of the exam is very dangerous. We don't call this place the Forest of Death because it sounds good, even for Chunin this place is treacherous. If you don't think that you can make it through this forest without dying than please, quit now and save me the hassle of finding your bodies."

No one moved.

The Jonin sighed; of course they would make her life difficult.

"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you."

She snapped her fingers and over a dozen Chunin materialized out of the forest.

"This portion of the exam is pretty straight forward." She explained as one of the Chunin handed her two scrolls. "This," She held up a green scroll. "Is an Earth scroll, and this," She held up a red scroll. "Is a Heaven scroll. To pass this exam you'll have to acquire both scrolls and reach the tower in the center of this forest within three days. The catch is, you will only be given one of these scrolls. In order to get the other scroll you'll have to take it from another team."

The Chunin began to hand out the scrolls.

"Though killing is discouraged, this test is no holds barred, feel free to use any means necessary in order to pass the exam."

From somewhere in the crowd she heard a cry of "sweet!" and then suddenly a grass nin was flying through the air. The Kusa Genin hit the ground and didn't even have time to move before his assailant landed on him. Anko only sprung into action when a familiar sound of steel on stone met her ears. She pulled the Genin away just as Naruto's claws punched into the earth.

She stood there, holding the squirming Kusa nin by his neck, as she looked at Naruto. "Let me rephrase that; you can use any means necessary to pass the exam _after_ the exam begins."

The Jinchuuriki's eyes narrowed in annoyance and he retracted his claws.

"How foolish of me." He deadpanned before returning to his place next to his teammates.

Anko shook her head in exasperation and dropped the now very blue faced Genin.

"And now the rules!" She announced happily, seeming to completely forget that Naruto had nearly murdered a fellow contestant. "First rule, as I've already said you have to get both scrolls to the tower within 72 hours. If you can't get them within the time limit you fail. Second rule, only teams that still have all their members combat-effective are allowed to pass this phase. If any member of your team is killed or otherwise wounded too badly to continue you automatically fail. On a side note, if manage to come out of the forest with more teammates than you went in with you're doing something wrong. Third rule, you have to keep your scrolls in plain view at all times and are not allowed to make counterfeits or destroy any of them. Doing either of these things will result in an automatic failure. Fourth rule, you aren't allowed to open your scrolls. In the field you will sometimes be given messages that contain highly classified information. If you read them you risk your ninja status as well as your life."

Naruto grinned; this was going to be a bloodbath. He turned to look at Killer Bee; the Kumo jinchuuriki mimicking his expression.

'_Not yet. Savor the anticipation; he's the one who will give my life purpose._'

"That's all there is to it for this portion of the exam. If there aren't any questions than we'll begin right away."

Chouji raised his hand. "What do we do for food?"

"Hmm, that's an interesting question." Anko stroked her chin in fake thought. "Can anyone here tell fat-ass what he should do for food when he's out in the forest for three days?"

Kankuro piped up almost immediately. "Make him eat glass!"

"Rocks!" another Genin added.

"Trees!"

"People." Naruto added hungrily.

"Punch him in the ass!"

Anko nodded. "Well that last comment was less than helpful but I think you get the general idea. So if there aren't any other questions let's begin."

Nobody spoke.

"Well in that case let me give you one last piece of advice." Anko grinned. "Don't get yourselves killed."


	16. Snake in the grass

**An:** Sorry for the wait between chapters you guys, life reared it's ugly head and I was forced to take care of some things before I was able to write this chapter. Thanks for all the feedback and I hope that you like this chapter (Personally I think it's one of my best but I have been known to be wrong on occasion). I'd also like to say a very special sorry to my beta reader evilsangel for publishing this chapter without waiting to get feedback from her. What can I say, I'm fucking crazy!

* * *

Apart from the incessant whine of insects or the occasional screech of an unseen jungle bird, the first thirty minutes of the exam were passed in silence.

Tense, abrasive silence.

And as Sasuke and Kiba soon discovered, this (regrettably) was to be the high point of the second exam. Around minute thirty-one the silence was pierced by the sharp reverberating shriek of metal on metal; a sound which the pair now recognized as Naruto extending his claws. Immediately, the two Genin were on high alert; bodies tense and eyes peeled for any type of movement. The soft sound of a drawn out metallic click reached their ears and the duo turned, taking in the sight of their psychotic still-walking teammate slowly retracting his talons.

Kiba sent Sasuke a nervous look before he tentatively began to trail after the jinchuuriki. If the Uchiha had been unnerved by Naruto's actions, his face didn't show it. He calmly sheathed his kunai before he too caught up to the boy; silence again descending on the group.

Not two minutes had passed before Naruto once again extended his claws. Again, Sasuke and Kiba had prepared themselves for battle, and again no attack came. And then just as before, the demon vessel slowly retracted his claws; the distance between them once again revealing that the boy didn't even break his stride.

Sasuke and Kiba shared a puzzled look before once again catching up to their teammate.

Soon afterwards the blonde again extended his claws. However, this time neither one of his teammates stopped walking. Perhaps if they didn't react to the noise Naruto would get tired of playing whatever game that he'd invented and hopefully let them continue the exam in peace.

The were sorely disappointed to learn that Naruto was ignoring them completely. For the next hour, the Uchiha and the Inuzuka were forced to endure the nerve wracking shriek of Naruto's claws.

From there it only got worse.

The interval between the screeches seemed to be shrinking and every so often a ripple of red light would flow through the boy's body. Not to mention the fact that Naruto would occasionally turn around, take a good long look at Kiba, and then send him a fang-filled grin before moving on.

Just when the boy's teammates thought that they were going to go insane, Naruto came to abrupt stop.

"We're here."

The duo looked around. Where ever _here_ was, it didn't seem like anything special. To them, this place that Naruto had led them to just seemed to be more jungle. There were only a few noticeable differences between this piece of jungle and the jungle that they'd just trekked through. However the longer they stayed, clearer it became that this place was not at all what it seemed.

The most noticeable of these distinctions had to do with the size and shape of the trees. The trees here were large, much larger than those that ringed the forest's entrance. Which was certainly saying something when one considered that those outer trees could easily dwarf the Hokage's tower.

They were old, remarkably so, grand timber monoliths all but mummified by the ancient vines of some long extinct species of climbing flower. Two relics of a long dead world forced to either live with one another in symbiosis or parish.

The air in this place was damp and thick, saturated with over a millennia's worth of dead pollen and dust. With every breath they took the pair had force down a hacking cough, afraid to rupture the perfect silence and transform the jinchuuriki's look of reverence into one of outrage.

It was Sasuke who finally spoke. "What…what is this place."

Naruto picked a flower from one of the vines that was strangling the base of a tree. "This is my home." He whispered as he continued to stare at the flower. "This is where I met my king."

Both boys tensed. Thanks to Kabuto, they knew all to well of the king of whom Naruto spoke.

Kiba took a step forward trying his best to comfort the whining puppy in his jacket. "I don't understand." He shook his head. "This place is sacred to you. Why would you bring us here?"

Naruto spoke in a dangerous tone. "Because I'm absolutely certain that neither of you well tell another living soul about this place."

Kiba flinched at the boy's choice of words.

The jinchuuriki let the flower in his hand fall to the mossy blanket of the forest floor, watching with mild interest as the vibrant crimson flower crumbled into dust. "There are monsters in this forest; creatures like me who have powers that can destroy you so completely that only your memory will remain. You are fragile, pitiful creatures and my fate is shackled to that of your own. If you die than I will be forced to continue living my death. If you live I will be given a chance to obtain that which is most precious to me; I will be given my existence."

The Genin blinked at the boy's cryptic monologue but said nothing; not wanting to risk the demon child's anger.

He turned to Sasuke. "Give me the scroll Uchiha."

The boy simply nodded and handed him the heaven scroll. Naruto took it from him and after a few seconds of concentration the scroll evaporated into a cloud of red smoke.

Sasuke felt his heart jump in his chest; Anko's words about the penalty for destroying their scroll ringing clearly in his head. He prayed to Kami that Naruto knew what he was doing.

A small glowing symbol appeared on the palm of the boy's gloved fist and a small smirk spread on the boy's face. "The scroll will be safer in my hands than it would've been in yours." His smirk shifted into a scowl. "I trust that you both agree with me?"

Both boys gave him a careful nod.

Naruto turned to leave. "I will be back by night fall with food, water, and our second scroll. While I'm away I strongly advise that you don't do something stupid."

Kiba's head shot up. "Wait, you mean that you just want us to wait here until you come back?"

Naruto rounded on him, eyes glowing menacingly in the dim dusty light of the grove. "That isn't a problem is it?"

The Inuzuka took a step back. "N-no." He stuttered fearfully. "It's no problem at all."

The corners of the Kyuubi container's mouth turned up into a wicked grin. "Good. Oh, and don't touch the flowers."

His teammates could only nod mutely as he vanished in a flash of scarlet light.

XXXXXX

"Man this sucks." Zaku whined a he riffled through the pockets of a dead Rain-nin. "If it's this easy to beat the Uchiha's team I'm gonna be really disappointed."

Kin rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up Zaku. Just be glad that our master chose us to go on this mission instead using us as lab rats for that new seal of his."

"She's right you know." Dosu added. "If we can capture the Uchiha then our lord will be very pleased. At least his disappearance won't be investigated very thoroughly; after all, people go missing during these exams all the time."

Zaku frowned as he pulled an earth scroll out of the Genin's pocket. "I still say that this is too easy."

Dosu was about to reply when a sudden violent screech of steel on steel echoed through the forest. All three of them were immediately on high alert; eyes darting wildly as the tried to find their hidden opponent. A moment passed and still nothing happened.

The bandaged Genin turned to his teammates. "On me, and stay low. This poor bastard doesn't even know that we're here."

Zaku flexed his hands and smirked. "Like shooting fish in a barrel."

It only took the Sound team two minutes to find their next target; a fairly unimpressive feat due to the boy's blatant disregard for his surroundings. Crouched down in a bush, the three Oto nin shared a look of disbelief at the prospect that someone who claimed to be a ninja could be so oblivious.

The boy was walking almost lackadaisically through the forest; his chosen garb of burnt orange and black providing about as much camouflage as a signal flare against the emerald green vibrance of the vegetation. The boy made no move to remain hidden as continued to meander aimlessly through the forest.

"It's got to be a trap." Kin realized. "Just look at him, no one's that stupid."

"Ehh I'm not to sure about that." Dosu replied as he watched boy plow straight through a bush of poison ivy. "This guy might actually be as dumb as he seems."

"So what do we do?" Zaku clipped impatiently. "At this range I could turn him into a smear on the ground. Just let me at him."

Kin huffed. "Don't be such an idiot. That's probably exactly what he wants you to do. In fact, I bet that this kid is a clone. If you shoot him it'll give away our position, then his team will spring the trap."

"I don't think so." Dosu replied. "A clone jutsu doesn't have a physical body, so if that was clone it wouldn't be able to keep kicking that rock."

"Yeah but-"

"Aw screw that noise!" Zaku interrupted. "This kid is dead."

The Sound nin jumped out of the bush and took aim on the boy's head.

"Hey dumbass!" He called out.

The boy turned around. Zaku couldn't help but shake his head; of course he would turn around. The boy's eyes grew comically wide before he whipped around and began to run.

Zaku just laughed. "Wind release: Sonic air slice jutsu!"

The air in front of him condensed into a percussive wave and shot forward, shredding the landscape. A pitiful scream was wrenched from the boy's lips as the column of air punched a fist-sized hole through his back and flung his body to the ground.

However Zaku's look of triumph quickly transformed into one of horror as he watched the boy's tattered body melt into a cloud of smoke.

"Oh fuck me, it _was_ a clone. Ambush! Take defensive positions guys!"

Dosu and Kin jumped out of bush and began to run towards Zaku.

"I told you it was a trap you stupid bastard!" Kin yelled. "But nooo. You had to go and-"

The girl's words became a gurgling scream, and hot blood showered down onto Dosu's back.

"Dosu! Get down!" His teammate roared. The boy did so; hurling himself to the ground in order to give Zaku a clean shot.

Oto nin's eyes went wide when he got a clear view of what he was fighting. The "clueless" boy from before was staring back at him; eyes alight with twisted glee continued to strip the flesh from Kin's body with his fangs.

"Sonic air slice jutsu!"

The attack met with nothing but open air; his target blurring out of sight mere seconds before the wave impacted.

Zaku felt a bead of sweat run down his face. "Fuck! C'mon Dosu, get moving!"

Dosu scrambled to his feet only to be rewarded by hammer-like fist connecting with his head. The boy became dimly aware that he was on the ground again; pinned to the forest floor by something sharp lodged in his back. Suddenly, horrible pain shot through his right arm.

And then he knew no more.

Zaku watched in horror as the boy wrenched Dosu's arm from his torso with a sickening crack; relieving him of his weapon and his limb. The boy swung Dosu's arm like a hammer, cackling manically as the heavy metal gauntlet crushed the boy's head into jelly. Even though it was obvious that the Sound nin was dead after the first blow, the boy continued crush his teammate's broken body; laughing louder and louder as every impact sprayed his body with gore and grey matter.

The sole remaining Sound nin felt bile begin to rise in his throat and tears begin to form in his eyes. This was it. He was going to die.

The boy's foot struck his gut with the force of a wreaking ball, emptying its contents onto the ground. Zaku didn't even have time to reach the ground before agonizing pain again wracked his body. His eyes drifted to the spot where his arm used to be before slowly moving up and meeting his killer's gaze.

Naruto bared his fangs in a bloody grin as he trained the boy's severed arm on his head. "Guess what elemental affinity I have." The jinchuuriki taunted in a sing-song manner. "You know, from this range I can probably turn you into a smear on the ground. Let's find out if I'm right."

"Wind release: Great maelstrom cannon jutsu!"

The jutsu exploded out of Zaku's severed arm with a thunderous bang, utterly annihilating everything that stood before it. With ravenous hunger, the advancing wall of wind devoured everything that it touched; leaving behind naught but a fine powder not even fit to call itself dust.

In short, Naruto's jutsu flattened everything in front of him for almost a mile.

The boy let go of the puddle of tissue that was once Zaku's arm and proudly surveyed the destruction he'd wrought.

"As worthless and pretentious as you humans are, I'm loath to admit that things would be very dull without idiots like you to keep me amused." Naruto took another look at the expanse of flattened earth in front of him and his smile slowly morphed into a scowl.

"And now I have to find a new scroll because everything I touch turns into shit."

XXXXXX

Atop Kiba's head, Akamaru let out long yawn.

"Yeah…I know how you feel buddy." The Inuzuka drawled boredly before letting out a yawn of his own. "This sucks pretty bad."

Sasuke scoffed. "Some ninja you are."

"Oh bite me you stuck up bastard." Kiba retorted. "If you're so great then why did Naruto leave you behind?"

The Uchiha scowled. "Because he's a selfish monster with more pride than skill. All he cares about is stroking his ego."

An amused look crossed Kiba's face. "That second part is true enough, but I'm not so sure about that first bit. He seems to be pretty strong to me."

"Right now maybe, but in a few years I'll be more than a match for that monster." He smirked. "After all, I have the power of the sharingan."

'_Oh right. I completely forgot about your super powerful kekkei genkai. How's life going for the elite Uchiha clan again? Oh yeah, I remember now! They're all dead._'

Kiba decided not to voice his personal opinion regarding the power of the Uchiha clan. Which was probably for the best due to the fact that Sasuke could still beat his ass in a fight.

"You're going to need a lot more than your fancy bloodline if you want to beat Naruto." Kiba looked at the sky. "Who will be returning shortly with our ticket out of this hellhole."

The sharingan wielder gave a derisive laugh. "You sure seem to be dependant on that monster."

"And you sure seem to be oblivious of him!" Kiba shot back. "Don't you remember what Jiraiya-sensei said about Naruto? Even he couldn't beat Naruto and he's a fucking Sannin! If you want to go and get yourself killed then fine, but don't drag me and Akamaru down with you."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously before suddenly going wide. He launched forward sharingan ablaze; barely managing to snake his way through the rain of kunai that he now found streaking towards him.

Kiba realized what was happening almost instantly and took hold of his teammate; pulling him to safety behind the rock that he was previously sitting on.

"Flush 'em out." The Inuzuka whispered. "With your reflexes you'll be able to last out there longer than me."

Sasuke nodded, and after taking a calming breath, launched himself back into the fray.

Kiba pulled Akamaru out of his coat. "Let's do this Akamaru." The puppy gave a yip of agreement.

The Inuzuka ran through some hand seals. "Ninja art: Beast human clone jutsu!" The form of Akamaru disappeared inside a cloud of smoke, which blew away to reveal a second Kiba. "Ninja art: All fours jutsu!" With his senses heightened by his jutsu it was all too easy to find their hidden assailant.

The canine duo shot out from behind their cover; swinging wide and then converging on their tree-born opponent from both sides. The Grass nin seemed to be totally engrossed with her task of turning Sasuke into a pincushion; seeming to not even notice the pair of Kibas until they were right on top of her.

Kiba's claws flashed towards the woman but struck nothing except for open air. Akamaru's attack met with similar failure as the Kusa nin twisted around the blow with an eerie serpentine grace.

The woman came out of her dodge and struck, twisting her body at an unnatural angle that allowed her to deliver a bone jarring kick to Kiba's chest. Momentarily stunned by the ferocity of the woman's attack, Kiba was unable to parry the vicious storm of punches that met with his body.

The boy was granted a brief reprieve from the assault as the Kusa nin was forced to evade an attack from Akamaru. However just as before, the woman uncoiled from her dodge and struck; hammering the Kiba clone with so many kicks that her leg became little more than a blur. One final kick knocked Akamaru out of his transformation and sent the small dog rocketing towards the forest floor.

Kiba snapped into action; his efforts fueled by his concern for his life long friend. In the end, the Inuzuka's motives proved meaningless. Every swing of his claws was deflected perfectly before being countered by brutal kick to his head or chest. After one particularly sloppy attack it became apparent that the woman had grown tired of pummeling the boy. She took hold of his arm and yanked hard, twisting her body as she went. Kiba cried out in pain as shoulder was jerked out of its socket but a series of violent chops to his neck quickly silenced his cries.

The woman smirked and simply let go of the boy's body, watching in amusement as Kiba plummeted back to earth. However, a few seconds before the boy's body would've hit the ground his teammate caught him; in action that saved him from almost certain death. The Grass nin frowned before leaping out of the tree to face the uninjured member of Team 7.

Sasuke's sharingan spun furiously as he continued to look down at the bloody body that he still had clutched in his arms. He set Kiba down next to the battered form of Akamaru.

"You." He spat; a slight tremor of rage coming into his voice. "I'm going to make you _pay_ for what you did to him!"

The Grass nin chuckled darkly. "You're certainly welcome to try." She hissed.

Sasuke drew a kunai and lunged for the woman's throat; murderous intent gleaming in his crimson eyes. She moved much faster than he'd expected, deftly catching his wrist and then slamming her fist across his face.

The Uchiha swung out blindly with the blade in his free hand, the action doing little more than providing another opening for the woman to strike at. Pain flooded through his body as the woman's fist smashed into his unprotected ribs; breaking a few, more likely than not.

The Kusa nin gave the boy no chance to recover. Her foot connected with the Uchiha's knee, an act which sent him sprawling to the ground. Taking advantage of their new position, the woman smashed her knee against Sasuke's jaw.

After that, the Sharingan wielder could do little more that fight to remain conscious.

The woman pulled Sasuke towards her. "It seems like I win Sasuke-kun." She mocked smugly. "And now I think I'll claim my prize." Without warning the woman bit down on Sasuke's neck; wrenching a tortured scream from the Genin's mouth. Only then did she let him fall to the ground; her eyes glimmering darkly as she watched a seal begin to form on the boy's neck.

Now that that was over she could focus on ridding this world of the other boy.

She opened her mouth and withdrew the legendary sword Kusanagi from the maw of the serpent that resided within her. The woman leveled her blade on Kiba's throat, silently commending the boy for lasting as long as he did.

An earsplitting bang reverberated off the trees and the woman suddenly found her hand had been sheared off at the wrist; the Kusanagi spiraling off into the darkness of the forest.

A kick with enough strength behind it to crush steel connected with the woman's head, nearly ripping her skull away from her spinal column. She flew the air at amazing speeds, skipping off various obstacles in her path and only coming to a stop when an iron-like hand clamped down around her face.

"**What have you done to me, Viper-prince!**" Even if Orochimaru had wanted to answer he wouldn't have been able to; Naruto's hand was latched onto his face much too tightly.

The jinchuuriki wrenched the snake Sannin's head back before viciously smashing it against the trunk of a nearby tree. For the first time in a very long while Orochimaru felt pain.

Naruto was relentless. He slammed the man's head into the tree over and over again; not willing to be pacified until the serpent-wielder's skull was nothing more than a bloody stain on its bark.

"**You've stolen my purpose from me! You've taken away my death!**" The demon vessel roared.

Naruto struck, his arm moving so fast that it seemed to fade out of existence. His talons tore into Orochimaru's body; his blows connecting with such speed that his claws didn't cut…they _liquefied_.

Trapped against the bloodstained bark of the tree, the only thing that the snake Sannin could do was to will his blade back to him. The blond was so infatuated with his destruction of the serpent-wielder that he didn't even realize that the Kusanagi had returned to its master's hand.

In fact, Naruto didn't even seem to notice the blade even after it had sliced through his arms. Without even flinching, the jinchuuriki's jaws came crashing down on the Sannin's neck like a nail-filled vise.

Orochimaru screamed in pain as the demon container began to thrash his head from side to side; fully intent on ripping out his opponent's throat.

The snake Sannin struck again; this time using the Kusanagi to chop through the demon child's neck.

Naruto's body fell to the ground with Orochimaru's following suit shortly thereafter. The serpent-wielder pulled himself to his feet and let out a few jagged raspy breaths. When he'd come into this forest he'd hoped that he would be able to avoid confrontation with the Leaf village's pet demon.

It seems that luck wasn't on his side.

An explosion of crimson light had the Sannin instantly on high alert. Orochimaru watched with no small amount of horror as Naruto's body began to reconstruct itself.

"**Why why **_**why**_**!**" The five-tailed Naruto raged. "**Why can't you kill me!**"

The snake Sannin's eyes went wide when he realized that Naruto had rammed his chakra infused talons into his chest. His sword was wrest from his grip and the next thing he knew, the razor sharp blade of the Kusanagi had been brought down on the juncture of his ragged neck; the blade all but slicing him in half.

Naruto reared back his head unleashed a primal roar to the heavens; able to do nothing else to extinguish his rage.

"N-Naruto." A choking rasp sounded from behind him.

The boy turned almost unwilling to believe what he saw. Kiba Inuzuka, broken and bloody, stumbled towards him with Sasuke slung over his shoulder.

"P-please. Help." The boy's strength gave out and he fell to the ground.

Naruto's gaze lingered on the wreaked forms of his teammates for few more seconds before his eyes darted back to Orochimaru. The snake Sannin wove the final sign and his form was swallowed by that of a summoned python. It vanished as quickly as it had come, taking its master with it.

Naruto let his five-tailed cloak die out and began to move through the forest at lightning fast speeds.

If he moved quickly enough and if Kami was smiling upon him, he just might be able save the lives of his fallen teammates and salvage his reason to live.


	17. Author's note

Hey guys it's Plagius, and I'm a reeal bastard ain't I? I suppose some sort of apology is in order for dropping off the face of the Earth for about a year so... I'm sorry... I guess.

I honestly don't know what happened, one minute I was full of inspiration and then suddenly it was gone, vanished, and all desire to work on this story quickly followed suit. School got into full swing and suddenly I was too busy to write, at least that's what I told myself at the time. So then summer came and I got a job, finally got my driver's license, and started playing D&D again, but even so I could have written if I'd wanted to.

But I didn't.

Even so, a while back I said that I wouldn't abandon this story. And I won't. I'll finish this story but I'm unsure of when it'll happen.

That being said, I would like to present you all with a unique opportunity. My reason for not updating was lack of desire, not lack of ideas. As such, a large part of the story has already been planned and, at your own discretion, I'm willing to answer any question about the story up to and including the final scene. In basic English, I'm willing to spoil any part of the story that you wish; think very carefully before asking about something, it could ruin the story for you. PM me, ask me in a review, or Email me.

Or don't.

If you want to wait that's fine too, just remember that my updates will most likely be few and far between. However, there have been ideas careening through my head for the better part of a year and I'm pretty sure that they won't stay silent for much longer.

~Plagius


	18. The Lanern Bearer

**An: **It's been what... 3 years since I've updated. Oh well, better late than never I guess. If characters act different or things seem off it's because I have written this story in so long. If you care (or think that I care) you can tell me what you think I could've done better. Have fun.

~Plagius

* * *

His world was cold and black.

It was a strange world devoid of light and feeling, of perception or purpose. Devoid of space or time or any point of reference, this was the world in which he lived in now.

Lived?

Was this living? He didn't think that it was.

No, he couldn't possibly still be alive after the beating he took from that Grass-nin…could he? After the way she chopped his neck with that iron-like hand so many times he was scarcely able to breathe. Blood more often then air was what found its way into his lungs, and his head had burned and throbbed from the numerous blows that it had been subjected to. It had hurt so bad. Pain sparked and danced within his skull, almost as if a hive full of angry bees had been dropped inside. Surely this world was a more pleasant alternative.

Right?

He couldn't tell anymore.

His whole body felt as though it were sinking through something; oil or tar or some other inky fluid that robbed him of his sight and smothered him in its icy embrace. The frigid slippery nothingness slithered its way into his being and pooled there leaving him numb: mind, body, and soul. Everything was so surreal and alien. In this world nothing seemed to exist. No up, no down, no light or dark, no matter. Not even he existed.

But he did… sort of. It all seemed to make sense to him.

It was like that feeling you get when you're dreaming; you know things that you couldn't possibly know and things just simply are (or aren't in this case) and that's how the world works.

For example, he was aware of a candle behind him. The candle was small and bore atop its wick a crown of flame. The flame was small, pitiful some would say, but it shone on proudly and defiantly in the morass of the ebon darkness. Somehow he knew that the flame was him. It was his soul, his identity, his very being.

It was all things him.

And it was dying.

Though he could not see it, he could tell that the darkness was closing in on it, crushing it, suffocating it. Consuming it. It made him feel very sad (at least he thought he felt sad). He didn't want to see that little flame disappear. He wanted to run over and protect the flame, to stand between it and the darkness, but he knew that he couldn't.

He didn't even exist in this world.

Though, it soon became apparent that somebody else did.

"A pity isn't it?" a phantom voice mused. "To watch as that tiny spark you hold so dear vanishes right in front of you, it must be…" He could almost hear the grin behind the voice widen. "Agony."

Its very nature filled him with a strange sense of mounting dread; as though the mere act of listening to its words would allow this being to coax out some sort hidden darkness that was locked deep within his soul.

He hated it.

It was inherently wrong. On a fundamental level some part of him knew that this voice was something that wasn't supposed to exist. The words that it spoke were treachery itself, and yet the voice sounded so good to his senses; he couldn't bring himself to ignore it. Like chains swathed in black velvet the words bound him, shackled him, dominated him until he could do little more than revel in their sound.

He felt more than he saw the burning crimson light that leisurely snaked its way out of the darkness.

It was bright, impossibly bright, and yet somehow this light left him feeling as though he'd been plunged into an expanse of water, cold and dark, that pressed in on him from all sides slowly drowning him as he sank into its depths. However, all of these feelings paled in comparison when the one who was baring the lantern-barer that trialed out of the void after this eerie red light

It was the demon child Uzumaki Naruto who melted out from the shadows.

But somehow it wasn't him. Something about him was off, that is to say more off than usual. It was almost as if all of the boy's hatred, darkness, and bloodlust were consolidated into this one being, almost as if he _was_ his raw demonic feelings with no human soul to balance them.

It was Uzumaki Naruto that much was certain, but he was different.

Horribly different.

He was older now, a man probably closer to twenty years of age instead of a boy of nearly thirteen, and he was clothed in gentlemen's finery.

A long black coat, its length branded by strange ruby symbols that seemed to move on their own in the lantern light, was draped over his shoulders and fastened in front by a neat array of silver buttons. Elaborate jeweled earrings adorned his now long and pointed ears and each one of his fingers bore a gaudy platinum ring studded with rubies. His normally unkempt shoulder length blond hair was neatly combed and pulled back into a small ponytail. The fingerless gloves that were always present on his hands were instead replaced by gloves of fine black silk, and from out of them curved the man's cruel knife-like talons. But, for all these differences, the wicked smile that graced the man's face was identical to the one worn by his childhood counterpart.

But he was not captivated by the intruder's physical appearance; in fact he had hardly even registered the dramatic change. No, what stood out to him the most was the hellish lantern that his unwanted guest was carrying.

It was a simple thing. Wrought of pitch black iron, it took the appearance of a fanged and grinning skull. Strange symbols of the same type that decorated the devil man's coat were scrawled across the forehead of the skull. Somehow he knew that in the tongue of men they read "No Future." And within the toothy maw of the skull that horrid, blindingly bright, scarlet flame danced and writhed.

"You've met with a terrible fate haven't you, Inuzuka Kiba?" The jinchuuriki spoke, his eyes glittering with fiendish delight. "Shall I help you?"

He wanted to scream "NO!" at the top of his lungs but he couldn't; he didn't exist. He could only watch in horror as the man walked closer and closer to the nearly extinguished candle.

Naruto gave a small barely audible laugh as he reached the candle, and raised a single talon to the mouth of the lantern that he carried. The nightmarish light responded immediately to the gesture and leapt to the appendage, bathing the tip of its master's claw in it unholy light.

"I don't presume to apologize for this, Inuzuka Kiba." The demon vessel commented disinterestedly. "That would imply that I see you as an equal instead of as a pawn." He continued as he applied the lantern's flame to his claw, rotating it every once in awhile to make sure that he kept the heat uniform. "But just so you know your life will likely end early because of this." Naruto removed his claw from the lantern and brought before his eyes, watching with sadistic excitement as ruby hued sparks leapt from the now glowing blade-like appendage.

"And what a life you will lead." He grinned savagely as he pressed the claw to the wick of the candle.

XXXXXXXX

Inuzuka Kiba awoke with a gasp as he shot up to a sitting position from his bed of moss. His reward for this action was pain. Blinding mind-numbing pain. And it seemed that the pain had brought along friends: vertigo and nausea. The dog-nin immediately fell back the ground, and proceeded to empty his stomach contents onto the ground beside him.

"You know," a voice to his right drawled "I was almost certain that that was going to make you explode. 'Tis a shame really," the voice sighed "it seems like my anti-peasant aura just isn't what it used to be."

The Inuzuka coughed again before groggily rolling over to address the owner of the voice, the voice of the person whom he never wanted to see again. "What?" he croaked dryly before a coughing fit wracked his body.

Naruto's eyes widened only slightly, but the light that danced within those orbs began to twinkle dangerously. "Oh, how I hate that question. Inuzuka, do you remember what I did to the last person who asked me that question?" The demon container inquired innocently.

The image of his blond teammate hurling one of those steel balls at Nashi's head and purposefully missing it by scant centimeters filled the boy's mind. He gave a small grunt of affirmation before returning to his previous task.

"Don't make me do it to you. It would make this whole undertaking of mine very pointless indeed."

After taking a few deep breaths the dog-nin rubbed his throbbing head. "Man, what did you do to me?"

The Nine-Tails jinchuuriki tilted his head in mock confusion. "Why, I brought you back to life young Inuzuka. Though I suppose if you're not enjoying yourself I could always send you back. "

Kiba's eyes grew wide and a myriad of thoughts began to race through his head. 'How can he bring me back to life? There's no way he has that kind of power; no one has that kind of power no matter how strong of a ninja they are…right? I mean he is a jinchuuriki after all, and not only that he's the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki so that's gotta count for something. Aaargh, but he's probably lying to me just to fuck with my head. Sadistic monster like him, this is exactly like something he'd do; trick me into thinking that he can bring people back from the dead.' Kiba's inner monologue stopped dead when his weary brain suddenly realized something.

"I died!?" the Inuzuka shrieked incredulously as he once again sprung up to a sitting position.

The demon looked at Kiba pointedly for a few seconds before cleaning out his ear with his pinky. "I'm sorry. I must've misheard you. You did say, "thank you for saving my filthy human life Uzumaki-sama." Did you not?" The boy's eyes promised death. "It would be so terribly gauche of you to do otherwise. wouldn't you agree?"

The Inuzuka somehow managed to go even paler than he already was. "Y-yes Uzumaki-sama. Of course. Thank you for saving me." He quickly blurted out.

The jinchuuriki adopted a broad grin. "Good." He purred "I do so enjoy when people are polite. Makes the world seem a little less," His grin split his face "monstrous."

Kiba did his best to hide the shiver of fear that ran though his body and his eyes once again went wide as he fully remembered all that had happened.

"Is Akamaru ok!?" he asked franticly as he began looking around for his small companion. "What about Sasuke!? Where is he? Is he ok?"

The jailor of the Nine-tails simply chuckled darkly at the other boy's questions. "I've tucked the Uchiha somewhere he won't get lost or stepped on. His injuries are healing nicely thanks to the little parting gift that your opponent left to him." Kiba furrowed his brow in question at that last statement, but he knew well enough to not interrupt the volatile blond while he was speaking. "Your little dog on the other hand…" The jinchuuriki trailed off and nodded to a tree behind him. "Let's just say you will need to move quickly if you wish to save him."

At that Kiba was on his feet and running toward his companion, hardly even noticing the pain that his numerous broken bones were inflicting upon him. Behind him he missed the feral grin that Naruto was wearing as he watched the dog-nin rush to aide of his furry comrade.

'Such a durable little thing you are, Inuzuka Kiba, I suspect you will be a most amusing toy for me to try and break.'

Kiba found the puppy crumpled up at the base of the tree. He was unconscious and breathing haggardly. It was no surprise really considering the distance that the small dog had fallen. From the way his chest was rising and falling the boy could tell that his left lung had collapsed, and scores of tiny cuts peppered the small dog's body; mating his once white fur with blood.

The Inuzuka gingerly picked up the puppy and cradled him in his arms, tears of rage welling up in the corners of his eyes. That Kusa bitch would pay for what she did to Akamaru.

The sound of footsteps approaching him from behind drew Kiba's attention. "He's held on like that for an hour." Naruto commented disinterestedly, "I really couldn't say if he's going to make it or not."

Kiba spun around and looked at the amused demon boy with murder in his eyes. "Why haven't you helped him!?" The dog-nin spat, "He's dying and you can save him just like you saved me!" The Inuzuka's composure broke and tears began to run down his face. "Please… don't let Akamaru die. He's precious to me. I know he doesn't mean anything to you, but he means _everything_ to me. Please Uzumaki-sama. Please."

Naruto's amused grin faded from his face and for a long time he stood silent. For a few seconds Kiba was terrified that he'd overstepped his bounds and that Naruto would simply wait and watch as the small dog died in his arms. The demon child moved toward the ivy entombed tree and plucked a white and blue pedaled flower from one of the vines.

"Do you know what this is Inuzuka?" The boy in question looked confused for a short second before shaking his head no. "It is called Beirzika Wrythos in my tongue" Naruto slowly twirled the flower between his fingers. "In yours it is called firefly catcher. It is an ancient flower, long extinct if you were to look anyplace other than here. It has a very special property. Can you guess what that property is Inuzuka?" Kiba was beginning to get impatient but since he really had no choice other than to play along with the jinchuuriki he again shook his head.

Naruto smirked and the flower in his hand exploded with light, a dancing, careening, and colliding display of vermillion brilliance that made the trees seem as though they were on fire. Shortly thereafter all of the flowers on the tree began to emit the same vibrant crimson light and a soft humming sound filled the air.

"They are able to conduct and transmit the flow of chakra." The blond finished.

The other boy could do little except gaze in awe at the burning spire of garnet light that now cloaked the tree.

"I used this property to place an infinitesimal spark of my chakra within you. It was my ability to heal saved you from death." Naruto let the flower in his hand fall to the ground and just like that the darkness of night swept back into the forest.

The only light was the eerie red glow that shone from the jinchuuriki's eyes. "Certainly you understand now. This is the greatest gift that I can give; it is my power, my very _soul_ that now dwells within you." Naruto's eyes seethed with anger. "I have already bestowed this gift upon a worthless dog, and I will not do so again!"

Despite the fury that grew within Kiba's heart at those words the boy took a steep back from the visibly furious demon child. "It is necessary for me to keep you alive. You are a means to an end, a tool that will allow me fight the one who will give my life meaning." The boy's crimson eyes flashed with rage. "But you are nothing else." A single tail began to materialize behind the boy "Do not make me regret my decision Inuzuka Kiba. I promise you it will be the last thing you do." And with that the boy let his chakra die out.

For a long while neither boy spoke; Kiba continued to cradle his dying friend in his arms and Naruto continued to stare burning holes in him.

Then the Inuzuka broke the silence.

"You said you had a pack. That wasn't a lie was it?" Naruto's eyes widened at that statement. "That day at the training ground when you introduced yourself to us you said you had a pack, then you understand the pain that you'd feel if you lost a member of that pack." The jinchuuriki's gaze faltered only for a second before returning Kiba's stare. "Akamaru is part of my pack and I'm a part of yours, that's what it means to be on a ninja team. You wouldn't leave a packmate to die would you?"

The demon boy's anger returned renewed fervor. A maelstrom of crimson light exploded from his body and lightning arced and snaked wildly into the treetops. Once again the trees were set alight with his power. "**Do I look like a ninja to you Inuzuka!?**" the jinchuuriki roared at the other boy who was now curled around Akamaru. Five flaming tails swept menacingly across the ground behind Naruto. "**I care nothing for you humans and your petty ideals. You are not, and you will never be, my equal and I will **_**not**_** treat you as such!**" The boy reached out his hand and a brilliant ball of ruby light began to coalesce in his palm. "**I should end your miserable life for even entertaining such a notion.**"

Kiba did nothing. He simply stayed curled around his companion in hopes that it would do something to protect him against the boy's rage. Naruto stared at the scene before him for a few moments before slowly lowering his hand and allowing the chakra to die out.

"You are right though." The crimson eyed boy conceded.

Kiba's eyes widened in a mixture of shock and relief. He slowly began to uncurl from around his injured companion but was careful not to meet the other boy's gaze; it might've been just be enough of an insult for the jinchuuriki to take back his words.

"From the very moment that I gifted you with a second life it was decided; we are bound now by the same fate." Naruto hesitated for a moment. "And it would be wrong of me to question the judgment of our king." The dog-nin scarcely dared to breathe; he was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

But it didn't.

"Arise Inuzuka Kiba, and place your wounded comrade on the ground. Once," The blond grit his teeth. "And only this once, I will honor your request."

Still avoiding Naruto's gaze the young Inuzuka slowly got to his feet. He was hesitant to place the defenseless Akamaru back on the ground in front of perhaps the most dangerous being in all of the elemental lands. Images of the sadistic jinchuuriki crushing the small dog beneath his foot for his own sick amusement danced through genin's mind.

He looked down to the bundle of fur cradled in his arms. He could hear his friend's heartbeat beginning to slow, and see how much trouble he was having when he tried to breathe. In a few minutes it wasn't going to matter if Naruto killed Akamaru or not.

Kiba felt like he was going to be sick.

"Look at me Inuzuka." The demon child commanded.

Kiba did so reluctantly.

"I swear upon my honor that I will do no harm to your friend. Both you and he," the boy then rolled his eyes toward a large tree barely visible in the darkness behind them. "And the Uchiha will leave this forest alive."

As much as he hated it the brown haired Genin had little choice other than to trust the word of the monster that stood before him. Hesitantly he lowered the battered dog to the ground and took a step backward.

The only thing he could do was hope that Naruto kept his word.

The telltale screech of metal on metal echoed throughout the forest as the blond jinchuuriki's talons sprung forth from his fingers. Kiba stiffened. For a terrible moment he feared that all of his macabre predictions were about to come true. However, when his demonic teammate proceeded to neatly clip one of the blue and white blossoms from the web of ivy at his back his posture relaxed.

"Why Inuzuka, it's almost as if you don't trust me." The demon child chided sarcastically as he knelt before the small dog. "I hope I haven't done anything in the past to make you feel that I'm untrustworthy."

"Said the trickster king to the wolf." Kiba mused in a far off tone.

Though the other boy could not see it, those words brought a mad grin to the demon vessel's face. The phrase that the Genin had quoted was a line from out of a tale, a long forgotten legend, that the king of demons would whisper to him before he slept when he was young. It would seem like the young Inuzuka was going to become far more interesting in the coming months. After all, who truly knows what the soul of a demon does to the mind of a human.

A ripple of energy rolled outward from the kneeling jinchuuriki. It was faint, barely enough to cause the grass around him to bend, but in the darkness small embers of vermillion light gradually flickered into being. They twinkled and flashed and fluttered through the night air, weaving an intricate crimson veil around the boy, all the while emitting a low hypnotic drone. They were almost like…fireflies.

Kiba watched in breathless awe as the scene played out before him.

Naruto was evil.

Actually, as far as the Inuzuka was concerned, he was _literally_ evil. The boy was the physical embodiment of all things that were wrong and wrenched and wicked and horrible in this world. He brought woe and ruin to everything that beheld him, and left little more than ash and blasted earth in his wake. Plants withered and died when faced with his scathing presence, and animals fled from him as though the hounds of hell were snapping at their heels. The world itself rejected him, and the devil himself wouldn't hesitate to call him scum.

He'd born witness to the boy's monstrous cruelty first hand. He'd watched as Naruto tortured a Genin, a young boy whose only crime was wanting to be a better ninja, just for the sick thrill of it. He'd visited his mother in the hospital after the demon child had nearly run her through just for trying to protect her child. He could build a library out of the number of horror stories he'd overheard regarding the boy's vile exploits.

So why now did he look so human?

The tiny ruby starbursts pooled within the flower's petals like dew and the blossom began to thrum with chakra. Soon the bloom was entirely engulfed in light, and Naruto lowered the radiant globe before letting it fall onto the broken body of Akamaru. With a resounding bang the flower exploded into a cacophony of crimson light.

The light disappeared just as suddenly as it had come and, when it was gone Kiba was left trembling in the darkness. Within that flash, for just the slightest whisper in time, the Leaf-nin could've sworn that he saw the man from his nightmare crouching over Akamaru's body in Naruto's place. The flower was likewise gone its place having been taken by the man's sinister lantern.

"No future."

Those words haunted him.

Naruto stood up abruptly, snapping the Inuzuka out of his thoughts.

"You will carry him." The blonde snapped as he nodded to the still unmoving form of Kiba's friend. "I have dallied in this forest far too long for my liking and we are leaving now."

The other boy quickly gathered the puppy into his arms, relieved that his companion was breathing normally again, and began to trail after Naruto who had already began to march at a brisk pace off into the darkness.

The loud crack of timber being split reverberated throughout the clearing and the Inuzuka struggled to keep a straight face as the unconscious form of Sasuke Uchiha tumbled unceremoniously out of the tree. To see his proud teammate sprawled awkwardly on the ground like a sack of flour was certainly going to be rare occurrence; he made a note to tell the other boy about this later.

"Pick _that_ up." The demon container ordered, speaking the word as though he were talking about a piece of trash.

Again Kiba did so, hoisting his unconscious teammate onto his back before the other boy had a chance to do something drastic.

The duo began to walk in silence through the forest.

While carrying the unconscious Uchiha, he couldn't help but notice how light the other boy was. Either the sharingan wielder was watching his figure or the Inuzuka was getting stronger. He liked to think that it was the latter.

Suddenly, his other teammate decided to break their unspoken vow of silence.

"Oh I just remembered, I have a present for you Inuzuka." Kiba's eye twitched; whatever it was the boy was almost certain that he wasn't going to like this.

He hated when he was right.

In front of him the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki absently tossed a scroll over his shoulder. The dog-nin caught it, and was surprised to see that it was the earth scroll that his teammate had collected when he left earlier that day. He immediately took note of the strange scent that accompanied it. It smelled weird to him, like he was missing something that was right in front of his face.

"I really should be thanking your dog actually." The boy continued as cruel smile began to spread across his face, "His scent is very… unique. It was quite clever of you to place it on your friend before the second exam started." Kiba could all but hear the jinchuuriki's crazed laughter in his voice. "I didn't think you could be so," his eyes glinted dangerously. "Treacherous."

The Genin stopped dead, rooted to the spot with dread. Now that he was thinking about it he could finally place the familiar scent that accompanied the scroll.

"Ino." He breathed.

"Your little blond friend sends her regards." Naruto threw over his shoulder as he continued to walk forward before being swallowed up by darkness.


	19. Of Swords and Sunsets

**An:** I didn't get nearly as far as I would've liked with this chapter, but the story took on a life of its own. The battle at the finals of the chunin exams should be quite a task to write considering how many players are going to be on field at one time. Just telling you now I might not have the skills to write several chapters of prolonged combat, but I'll give it my best shot. If any of you have read very action heavy stories please point me in their direction so that I can at least have some point of reference to go from. Speaking of which, the next chapter will be the prelims so I'm guessing that the next chapter will be mostly combat. If any of you guys are dying to see so-and-so fuck up so-and-so feel free to give me a PM or something. And remember: I can't get an erection without your reviews.

~Plagius

* * *

"When those who are weak stand united, they become strong. When those who are strong venture alone, they invite disaster." This is the 24th rule of shinobi conduct.

There were very few things in the ninja world as valuable as one's teammates. They were a second set of eyes that could track your enemies, a second set of ears that could foil an impending ambush, and a second pair of hands to wield a blade. But by far the most important thing that a ninja's teammates could be was a tourniquet. A second chance after you've royally fucked up. A squad could cover for the momentary weakness of one member or, if worse came to worse, (and it almost always did) they could drag your sorry shuriken-riddled ass off to a medic before you bled out.

At some point you would make a critical mistake. A trip wire would fail to get noticed or a kunai would get jammed in an opponent's chest in the thick of battle and then that was it; you were effectively a ghost whose death just hadn't quite caught up to them yet.

Unless of course you had your squad to back you up.

Out of the 54 active Jonin that were stationed in Konoha not one of them was able to proclaim that they'd never been downed in combat.

Sarutobi Asuma was the man who currently had the best track record with regard to how many times that he'd been incapacitated in the field. Four times the bearded Jonin had been brought to the edge of death, and four times the only reason that he was able to cling to life was because of the quick actions of his team. He counted himself lucky; most of the others had their figures up in the double digits.

Even Orochimaru, whose treachery was legendary, didn't venture off on missions alone. Though, as he was learning quite painfully now, those teammates didn't do him very much good when they weren't readily available.

After the thrashing that Konoha's pet monster had given him he was seriously beginning to question how badly he really wanted the sharingan. Of course, he'd been prepared to engage the demon child if things had absolutely required it, in fact he'd been resigned to the eventuality that he would have to face the boy in combat. What he hadn't been expecting was that the gaping wound that he'd sustained from boy's jaws would persist even after he abandoned his previous form.

Under normal circumstances by discarding his ruined body, much like the way a snake sheds it skin, he would effectively heal all damage that had been inflicted on him. Apparently these circumstances were anything but normal.

Not long after he'd rejuvenated himself, the snake wielder had been brought to his knees by an excruciating pain in his neck. It felt like the Kyuubi vessel had once again delivered that punishing bite to the juncture of his neck. The Sannin could only watch in fascinated horror as the flesh of his neck began to melt away like wax before a flame. If he'd had to guess, it probably had something to do with the amount of demonic chakra that had been introduced into his body when the boy bit him, but it was really a moot point now.

Without aid he would certainly bleed to death.

It had been about five minutes since he'd sent a messenger viper to retrieve Kabuto and by now the snake-nin's clothing was drenched with blood. Had he been anyone else, he would've been dead long ago.

However, even one of the legendary Sannin couldn't live long with their neck torn open as badly as his was. Already he was beginning to feel feint. And so, propped up against the base of a tree, Orochimaru could do little except wait for the med-nin to show up.

It was a shame really. He'd had his hopes set on the Uchiha being his new vessel. Not only that, Kabuto was a good minion; he would prove difficult to replace.

That is, if he ever showed up.

"Attend me Kabuto you fool." He rasped sharply, his serpentine eyes beginning to dance with rage.

The look was soon replaced by one of dread as the forest around him was filled with the sound of barking laughter.

Horrible, familiar laughter.

"You mean that four-eyed faggot!? His stupid ass is long dead; fucked off to meet Jashin-sama!"

Red clouds.

That was what billowed out of the darkness to meet the Sannin. The immortal team, Kakuzu and Hidan, his old associates, entered the clearing.

"I've got somethin' for ya, ya filthy snake cunt!" The scythe toting nuke-nin spat before tossing an object in front of the visibly shaken Orochimaru.

It was Kabuto's head. More accurately it was Kabuto's head with its mouth stuffed full of Kabuto's genitals.

Oh goody.

"Enough of this prattle, Hidan." The Waterfall Jonin reprimanded. "Our orders are to keep watch over Orochimaru and wait for the rest to gather. You're breaking my concentration, and if he escapes it's on your head."

The man's foul mouthed partner rolled his eyes "Maaaan go fuck yourself! Your uptight ass has been riding me all day. Look at 'em." Hidan jabbed his scythe in the snake-nin's direction. "Fucker couldn't out run shit if it gave 'em a head start."

"Oi Hidan!" a smug sing-song voice called out from somewhere in the shadowy canopy of the forest. "You better not let leader-sama catch you back sassing your superior, yeah. Remember what he did to Kisame and Itachi? I might just cry if he replaced you."

The silver haired nuke-nin grit his teeth at the verbal jab. "Go eat a dick Deidara-cha~n, you lady-boy bitch!" He yelled back into the darkness. The only response that the sadistic scythe-wilder received from his agitator was arrogant laughter, and Hidan seethed at the provocation.

Able to do little more than watch as his own personal hell unfolded around him, the Sannin groggily swung his head to watch as the group's resident pyromaniac dropped out of a tree and sauntered into the clearing, seemingly oblivious to the withering look that the other member was currently giving him.

This was quickly becoming _the_ worst case scenario.

As if to drive this point home with a sledge hammer a large wooden form crashed to the ground from the tree above, very nearly crushing him with its incredible bulk.

"Let's hurry up and finish this." The guttural voice of Sasori droned as he placed a large metal stinger against the chest of his ex-comrade, effectively pinning the man to the tree. "I dislike leaving this viper with his fangs intact."

The patchwork shinobi nodded as he approached the newest addition to the reunion. "Sasori is correct; we should finish this quickly and leave. Time, and therefore money, is going to waste while we linger in this forest."

Behind the miserly ninja's back his silver-haired teammate was mimicking him with his hand and mouthing 'money, money, money.' Complete with head bobble.

The Iwa Jonin snickered at this before digging out a small amount of clay and quickly kneading it to form a miniature ryu coins which he then began to flick at the hand-puppet Kakuzu.

Their small joke was amusing. At least it was until the real Kakuzu turned to face them, his eyes alight with the very fires hell.

"Is there something you wish to say to me Hidan?" He then shifted those eerie green eyes to settle on the Stone-nin. "Deidara?" The man questioned in a tone that promised instant death.

For his part, the blond was perfectly happy to bite out a quick "no Kakuzu-sempai." Before going ramrod-straight and standing at attention. The other source of the man's ire, however, seemed perfectly happy to voice his opinion. Deidara fought the urge to cringe. His loud stupid opinion.

"Fuck no! I never wanna talk to your stupid ass!" Hidan shot back. "Why don't you just do your goddamn job and keep an eye on snake-fag over there until leader shows up?"

Kakuzu's acidic emerald eyes narrowed in anger. "Was that an order, subordinate?" he asked, purposefully stressing the last word to remind his disobedient partner of his place.

The blond terrorist beside the man in question slowly began to slide away into cover behind a nearby tree. When the immortal duo argued, things around them had a bad habit of getting broken.

Or blown up.

Or sent to hell.

Fortunately for Deidara things didn't get a chance to progress to that point as suddenly the foulmouthed man found himself crushed beneath the boot of an invisible tyrant.

The remaining ninja stiffened. At least most of them did; with Sasori it was never very easy to tell.

"You will be silent, Hidan." Commanded a voice that was as cold and unbending as steel.

When _that_ man came gliding out of the darkness flanked on either side by a pair of figures also clad in black cloaks the snake-Sannin knew that his fate was sealed.

Pein skated through the air into the clearing, his appearance unchanged even after the many years that had passed since Orochimaru had defected from the organization. But something was different. The rennigan wielder had never been a kind man, but now those multi-ringed eyes held something dark and sinister within them; like he wasn't even human anymore.

Power radiated from him, matchless, oppressive, overwhelming power; indeed the very warp and weft of space seemed do distort and bend, bowing to his might. Slung across his hip was blade, simple and elegant in its design, which was seemingly formed entirely out of jade. It glittered and flashed at odd intervals, not reflecting light but instead creating it, as though the fragile looking katana held back a raging tempest within its crystalline form.

Pein's hand never strayed from the hilt of his blade.

Orochimaru recognized the other two members behind the man as Itachi and Kisame, though unlike their leader the two missing nin had drastically changed since he'd last seen them.

Kisame was easily the one who drew the Sanin's attention first. The bulky blue skinned man was never exactly textbook normal with regard to how a human being was supposed to look in the first place. Now he didn't even look like he was alive. Large metal bars stuck out of the man's back, chest, and shoulders at awkward angles, and his every footfall was accompanied by the mechanical ratcheting of gears and motors. His arms were impossibly long, dragging haphazardly against the ground as he continued to lurch forward, with each finger ending with long hook-like saw blade. All sixhis arms. An impossibly wide grin was frozen on the swordsmen's face, revealing that that his shark-like teeth had also been replaced with blades. But the most disturbing change by far was the rennigan eyes that glowed dimly within the man's eye sockets.

Likewise, Itachi also sported an array of black iron bars that protruded from his body. On either side, four long ebon needles ran through the length of the man's ears, and the bridge of his nose was now studded with rings. His normally jet black hair was now a shade of bright orange, and pulled up on his head into a topknot which had been anchored in place by yet another black needle. His mangekyo sharingan spun slowly in his dead eyes. It seemed to be stuck in an eternally active state causing bloody tears to continuously trickle down the Leaf-nin's stoic face. Like his partner's eyes, they too were emblazoned with the rings of the rennigan.

The Amekage swiveled in the air before descending to the ground next to the pinned form of Hidan.

"Insubordination is normally punished by death Hidan." The Rain-nin drawled disinterestedly as the other two paths converged on the momentarily forgotten Orochimaru and hoisted the man to his feet.

Even with the amount of blood that he'd lost the Sannin was hard-pressed to ignore the cruel glint that shone in eyes of his old leader. Indeed his eyes often held the very same look when he was doling out punishment to his subordinates.

It was a look of absolute authority and subtle amusement that currently graced the face of Akatsuki's leader. Hidan was sprawled out on the ground before him, struggling to no avail against the merciless pressure that pinned him to the ground. Almost as if he was bowing to Pein.

The rennigan wielder quickly schooled his features into a mask of indifference. "Do not think yourself above the laws of Akatsuki simply because you are immortal. If I cannot kill you then I will have to come up with another method to make you obey." The shadow of a smirk ghosted over his face. "I'm quite imaginative." He punctuated his words with blast of force that cracked the ground and caused his subordinate to cry out. "Have I made myself clear?"

A choking sound was the sadist's only response.

Pein gave a slow nod before letting the man regain his footing. He then shifted his gaze to Orochimaru, who by this point had been rendered all but unconscious due to blood loss.

"Zetsu and Sasori have informed me that you are planning to wage war on the Leaf in a month's time." A scowl hardened on the Amekage's face. Pein's hatred for Konoha was well known to the members of Akatsuki. The fact that Orochimaru was bold enough to declare war on the Leaf before the Rain-nin had his fun was almost certain to be seen as a personal insult. Wisely, the other four men took a few steps away from their condemned ex-comrade. "They tell me that you've dripped your poison words into the ear of the Kazekage." He scoffed in contempt, "and that the fool actually thinks that you'll uphold your end of the bargain. You've also managed to acquire a hidden village of your own, this 'village hidden by sound'. It seems you have quite a following; a small personal army last time we checked." The man's ringed eyes narrowed. "Not only that but you've managed to convince the Raikage to aid you in this endeavor. And by sending both of his jinchuuriki to the village no less. Clearly you were withholding your true talents when you a part of our organization."

The snake-Sannin smirked at the anger in the man's voice. If he was going to die it was a small comfort to know that he'd been able to stick it to Akatsuki one last time.

"Allow me to remedy this."

Pein raised his hand at serpent-wielder.

"Bansho Ten'in."

Now was the time. As he careened through the air towards the outstretched crystal blade Orochimaru's arm snapped out with blinding speed; firmly grasping his killer's hand even as the sword of viridian flame bit into his heart.

"Twin snakes suicide technique."

XXXXXXXX

Yugito let out a cat-like yawn as she awoke on the couch in her team's room. She didn't bother to open her eyes, having dubbed the action to be more trouble than it was worth, before snuggling deeper into the side of Killer-Bee; who was currently playing the role of her pillow. Her actions were rewarded with a soft chuckle as the man beside her began to comb his fingers through her soft, silky hair. She leaned into the affection and found herself lulled into sort of a half sleep by the man's ministrations and the baritone murmur of his voice. No doubt trying to find lyrics to his latest rap.

Too soon for her liking the other jinchuuriki's hand pulled away to scribble something down on his notepad, in action which left his blonde partner alone with her thoughts.

She was content to simply lie there and muse about the oddities of her life.

Like the fact that she was taking the Chunin exams for a second time. It had been over sixteen years since she'd originally taken the exams, and as expected of a demon vessel she had passed them with almost trivial ease. It had been one decisive victory after another for Yugito. In fact, she couldn't recall getting hit once throughout the entirety of the test, and most of the records that she'd set remained intact even to this day.

So why the hell was she taking the exam again?

Because Raikage-sama said so.

Yeah, that seemed to be about par for the course. She'd gone from one of the most accomplished Jonin in the history of Kumogakure to a Genin in a single day. What was even stranger than that was fact that Tee (an ANBU legend nearly equal in strength to the now diseased Copy-nin) and Killer-Bee (probably the strongest man in all the elemental lands) had accompanied her in her fall from grace. Why the Raikage wanted them to wail on Genin had been a mystery to her. Sending a team like this to take the Chunin exams was like swatting a fly with a building. Sending a team like this to go to war though, now that seemed far more believable.

And when the Raikage reveled that their true mission was to act as the primary invasion force in a war with the Leaf village she hadn't even blinked.

Tensions had been building between Kumo and Konoha for years. The Hyuuga incident and the demon child's sniping spree were just the latest additions to a long list of reasons for why the two villages were at each other's throats. In reality the first shinobi world war never really ended between the Leaf and Cloud villages. Though, she supposed that this rang true for any village.

The very nature of the world that they lived in bred this state of eternal unrest. When you were a ninja you lied, stole, and backstabbed without a second thought. Treachery was not only expected, it was encouraged. And those who were too honorable to engage in such behavior often found their throats cut while they slept. Not only this, their tales were then told to academy students who were taught to regard these individuals as fools who deserved their fates.

Because of this, it was often the most paranoid and unscrupulous ninja in the village rather than the most powerful who usually ended up as Kage. Now if you were to expand this behavior to a continental scale and throw some political tensions into the mix you could see why war (any war) was inevitable.

The thought left a bitter taste in her mouth, and she instead began to think of other things. War would come rather she wanted it to or not so she saw little purpose in making herself depressed over something she was powerless to change. She was a ninja; it wasn't her place to question such things.

Yugito was roused from her thoughts by Killer-Bee's rhymes.

"Soon everyone'll know how I laid 'em low. Ain't no one around to be the Killer-Bee's foe. 'Cause after eight ate nine there'll be nowhere to go. I'm the top of the top, the cream of the crop. He thinks he's strong with his nine-tailed soul but I'll chew 'em up like a casserole…Aw yeah."

'God this war is gonna suck.'

On their own each jinchuuriki held enough power to raze a hidden village to the gorund; with four of them present Konoha was going to end up as little more then a memory. Why the Hokage had ever allowed any of them in to the village in the first place was beyond her.

The blonde demon container cracked an eyelid just enough to catch a glimpse of the man sitting next to her. Bee had a goofy grin on his face as his head bobbed up and down to some unheard rhythm stopping every so often to scribble something on his notepad. For a man who would have to face the legendary nine-tails he showed a suicidal lack of concern.

Though, if someone had to face Konoha's pet demon she was hard pressed to think of a better candidate than the vessel of the Hachibi.

She'd only seen the two of them interact with each other a handful of times, but it in those brief moments it became all too apparent how disturbingly similar the two jinchuuriki were. The way they spoke and acted when they were together was unsettling. It was as though their demons were speaking to one another; their true forms just barely concealed by the disguises of flesh that they wore. But it was the things that the pair left unsaid that resonated the loudest for Yugito. It was subtle, were she not a demon vessel herself she probably wouldn't have been able to notice it, but when Naruto and Bee locked eyes she could almost see their thoughts syncing up. Like they'd known each other for so long that words were merely a formality at that point.

Bee had once used a word in the language of demons to describe this merging effect that occurred between the minds of a biju and its jinchuuriki. Mirroring was what the word roughly translated into. The power of the tailed beasts was beyond the comprehension of mortals on a fundamental level; alien to the point that their minds knew of secrets that were literally unknowable to a human. Bee had described it as trying to think of a new color; regardless of how hard you tried you'd only ever be able to come up with variations on an existing color.

When a tailed beast is placed inside a mortal body the minds of both prisoner and host become inseparably linked by their chakra systems. At that point the mortal is no longer a mortal. His mind and soul is forced to change in order to accommodate the influx of power and knowledge that the biju provides. And this change is always the most drastic in the host of a biju that has a high number of tails.

It would certainly explain why Bee knew as much as he did about the tailed beasts. Likewise it explained her frustrating, and oftentimes embarrassing, lack of knowledge regarding the subject.

Like the fact that teenage jinchuuriki give off enough pheromones to render normal human unconscious.

A feint blush dusted her cheeks as her actions upon meeting Naruto swam to the forefront of her mind. As fun as it was to fuck like crazed animals, she'd had her fill of it during her teenage years with Bee. Though she had to admit, it was rather cute to watch the little red-head from Suna toddle after her with wide eyes like a lost puppy dog.

Or the fact that jinchuuriki didn't kiss.

When she was younger, the fact that Bee wouldn't return her affections left her feeling cold and alone. But as she grew older she came to understand, and even share, his aversion to the act. Kissing was something that humans did to show that they loved each other. They were demons; the very idea of love was anathema to them.

She cared for Bee. She respected him greatly. He was absolutely irreplaceable to her. But she didn't love him. At least not in the way that two humans love each other. It was likely that the ability to love was one of the things that a jinchuuriki lost during the mirroring. Hers had probably been replaced by one of her numerous cat-like quirks or her weird love for sunsets.

Why did she like them so much anyway?

"Hey Bee?" she mumbled sleepily.

"Yo."

"Why do jinchuuriki like sunsets so much?'

The large man went rigid for a moment, an action which caused his feline companion to look up at him in question, before letting out a chuckle and tossing his notebook and pencil onto the nearby table. He stroked his beard for a few seconds, opened his mouth as if to say something, and then suddenly got a far off look in his eyes and returned to stroking his beard. This happened several more times before Yugito felt that it was time to step in.

"Bee?" She growled, "I can tell when you're fucking with me. Whatever story you're about to feed me-"

"I'm not trying to make up anything." The other demon vessel quickly assured her. "It's just that the story is long and involved. Even I don't remember the finer points of it."

The kunoichi sighed. This kind of thing happened wearily often whenever she asked him jinchuuriki related questions. She didn't care about the three hundred years or so of why and how and who behind the question; she was just bored and looking to pass the time.

"Weeell give me the short version then."

Bee once again stroked his chin before letting his arm fall slack. "Back in the Myrincos era, also known in our tongue as-"

The blonde grit her teeth. "The short-short version please."

Her partner deflated a bit and muttered something about the 'kids these days' before turning to face her.

"What do you remember about the Tenshi?" he asked in that infuriating manner of his that said he knew more than he was letting on.

She bristled at the word.

She knew that she hated the Tenshi. Or more accurately the Nibi hated them. They were an enemy of some kind; a faceless foe that threatened her existence long ago. A soupy mess of formless images and nameless sounds formed in her mind. It was like a word on the tip of her tongue. If she tried hard enough she could almost make the pictures come together, but then she would lose her hold on them and they would dissolve into chaos again.

"They were…angels. Right?" she asked, her brow furrowed in concentration.

Bee let out a derisive snort. "They certainly seemed to think so."

"We waged war with their kind for more than a millennia. There were nine of them, the same as us, and they were our equals in terms of power. Except for one of us."

"The nine-tails." She breathed.

A hollow grin formed on the Cloud-nin's face. "That's right. Even back then the nine-tails was uncontested in terms of strength. However his pride was equally strong, and he refused to fight with us against the Tenshi, claiming that he was without equal and that such a battle was beneath him."

Bee's voice became like ice. "We were defeated and captured. In secret the Tenshi had devised a weapon to slay our kind. Shippunagi. The Tail-cutter sword. One by one we fell before the blade's might, and soon only the Kyuubi was left to face the Tenshi."

A spark of sanguine light flashed behind the jinchuuriki's sunglasses "But we were all of us, deceived. The nine-tails tricked the Tenshi's servant, the wolf king, into stealing the blade from them. With Shippunagi in hand he was able to channel the power of all nine of the tailed beasts. In that moment we struck as one and set fire to the sky. With the Tenshi defeated he broke the seal on the blade, freeing us from our prison, and cast the weapon into the sea."

Yugito stared at him with wide eyes as the memories pieced themselves together within her mind. She was there. She could feel the heat of the flames as her kind incinerated the heavens; feel the infinite power of a god as their souls came together in the body of the nine-tailed king. Taste the sweet release as the Kyuubi set them free.

"That is why our kind loves the setting sun. It reminds us of our power, of well deserved victories…and that we are not alone even though it sometimes seems that way." Bee concluded his story.

For a long while the Nibi jinchuuriki was silent the long forgotten memories washed over her. She turned her attention to the window across from her, watching as the first amber rays of dusk began to creep into the room. She felt very small right now.

"Why…why did the Kyuubi come back for us?" she asked in a tentative voice that was almost a whisper.

The man beside her chuckled, her question no doubt dragging yet another story out of the eight-tail's library. "I've wondered the same thing for quite some time little two-tails. I think he was lonely without us, though I'll damned if he ever admits it. He's not nearly as heartless as he likes others to think he is, but his pride… every bit of that is true."

Bee's head perked up and he turned to look out the window towards the light-gilded forest that lay beyond it.

"Do you feel him coming two-tails? I surely do."

Yugito was beginning to get a little creeped out by all of this demon stuff, but shook her head and played along.

"He'll be here within the hour." A mad grin stretched across the man's face. "Perhaps you can ask him in person."


	20. Set in Motion

**An:** Oh goddamn it! I was really hoping to get done the the preliminary matches in the chapter. I don't even know why I try to plan things out anymore; it's obvious that this story is going to write itself regardless of what I try to do. On a brighter note though it's only been what 3 or 4 days since I updated? I've got most of the fights planned out in my head already so now it's just a matter of finding the right music and putting it to papper...er keyboard.

Also, an anonymous reviewer has tipped me off to the fact that the biju have names. I'm probably not going to use them since I feel that they take away from the mystique of tailed beasts. I'm also hard pressed to see the tailed beasts having a reason to give themselves names considering that it's a human convention and that monsters have little need for names. That's just my opinion though. When you write your own story you can call the biju whatever the hell you want. :)

~Plagius

* * *

Team seven had spent the day marching through the forest. Well, Naruto had anyway. Kiba had spent the vast majority of the day trying not to pass out from the blinding pain that dogged his every step as he carried not only Akamaru but also Sasuke. And during the fleeting moments when he wasn't fighting to stay conscious, he was battling against the edge of a nervous breakdown.

'I killed them.'

The thought alone was enough to churn the bile in his gut. Ino, Shika, and Chouji were dead because of him. He'd lead the monster right to them, and he was _laughing_ while he did it. He thought it was a joke; just a fun way to mess around with his lazy friend. 'Ha ha, Shikamaru's got dog pee all over him. Now he's gonna smell piss all day.' More like Shika's gonna smell like a big fucking target to the man-eating killing machine whose currently in a competition designed around **killing everyone who wasn't on his team!**

He fought back the hot tears that threatened to fall from his eyes. Why wasn't he able to just leave well enough alone? Just for once couldn't he have just walked away without smacking the bear in the face? No of course not. He was Inuzuka Kiba after all; a proud and powerful ninja from a great clan! God forbid that he have a little forethought about the repercussions of his actions.

This was why he was dead-last at the academy. He couldn't just sit still long enough to think about what he was doing. Back then, charging in guns blazing and getting all your friends shot in the ass just meant that the class would laugh at you for awhile and that you'd get a firm reprimand from Iruka-sensei. In the real world the situation would resolve itself with the grisly demise of two of your friends that you've known from birth and the teammate that you've sworn to protect.

'Funny. That's what Iruka-sensei always said to me.'

The cargo on his back began to stir, signaling that Sasuke was finally about to come to.

"Oh wow." The Uchiha groaned pitifully as he cracked his charcoal eyes. "It feels like someone curb-stomped my head."

The comment drew out barking laugh from the sadistic jinchuuriki in front of them.

"Let me assure you Uchiha, _that_ thought was the furthest thing from my mind as I looked upon your beaten form." The blond stopped in his tracks and locked eyes with Kiba. "I can't say the same thing for the young Inuzuka though; he's become quite adept at ending friendships lately."

Kiba grit his teeth and let his gaze fall from Naruto's while Sasuke regarded the exchange with no small amount of confusion.

"Kiba."

The dog-nin remained silent.

"Kiba put me down. Your hands are on my ass and you smell like a dog."

The Uchiha soon found himself unceremoniously dumped on the forest floor. He brushed a bit of dirt from his clothes, trying his best to play it as cool as he could, before standing to a wobbly base.

"Now tell me what happened." The boy's eyes darted for a second toward the clearly amused demon vessel behind them. "You didn't actually think about curb-stomping when I was down did you?"

"Of course not!" The Inuzuka shot back in a heated voice before going strangely silent; apparently preferring to look at his shoes than answer his friend's questions.

The sharingan wielder raised an eyebrow at his teammate's behavior and tilted his head to get the boy to look at him. Kiba responded by turning his head to look away.

"Kiba." Sasuke prodded warningly.

"I… Ino's team is dead."

The Uchiha's eyes went wide. In the background he could hear his other teammate chuckle darkly.

"What happened?" he ground out.

"He-he followed Akamaru's scent to Shika; he took their scroll from them."

The Uchiha rounded on the madly grinning Naruto; his eyes alight with murderous intent.

"What did you do to them!?" he roared, the threat of death just barely keeping him from activating his sharingan and rushing the blond.

The other boy let out an arrogant laugh as he began to approach the seething Uchiha. "What did I do? Why nothing of course. I simply asked to give me their scroll and they were only too happy to give it to me. I've been told that I can be very-" he extended one of his talons with a soft click. "persuasive."

The barest sliver of crimson was beginning to bleed into Sasuke's eyes as his hand instinctively began to reach for the kunai pouch on his hip.

"Careful now little Uchiha." The demon child purred darkly as the rest of his claws sprung out with a screech. "I wouldn't want you to do something foolish." He shifted his eyes to Kiba. "Inuzuka your friend is obviously still disoriented from his humiliating defeat. We shall sit down and rest awhile. I've been neglecting the two of you. It's so terribly rude of me after all; eating my fill without thinking of you. You must be hungry."

Against his will the dog-nin's stomach let out a loud growl.

His rage and guilt were no longer strong enough to distract him from the crippling, agonizing hunger that he currently felt. If he wasn't positive that the cruel jinchuuriki was going to drag him by the hair to the end of the exam he would've collapsed from exhaustion a long time ago. As much as he wanted to bury a knife in the other boy's smug face he would've been lying to himself if he thought that he had the energy to make good on the act.

"Here." The boy said as he unsealed a large slab of raw meat from a scroll in his jacket pocket. "This should suffice I hope." He tossed the hunk of flesh in front of the visibly drooling Inuzuka.

Sasuke was about to say something about not needing the monster's pity but his teammate beat him to the punch as he literally dove on the meat and proceeded to gorge himself on the stuff.

Naruto's eyes got manically wide as his grin threatened to split his face in half.

"Ino says hi."

Kiba heaved violently at the boy's words.

Sasuke was already in motion; kunai in hand and Sharingan eyes blazing as he shot through the air towards the hysterical jinchuuriki. His blade sliced deeply into the other boy's neck sending a spray of blood into vegetation around them.

Naruto's retort to the attack was a backhand that nearly twisted the Uchiha's head off. He sailed through the air until his journey was cut painfully short by flying haymaker that almost certainly broke his back as it planted him in the ground. There wasn't even time to register the last blow before a punishing kick caught him in the ribs sending him spiraling though the air into the trunk of a nearby tree.

Sasuke struggled to regain his footing but Naruto was immediately upon him; wrenching the boy up by his hair and lifting him into the air so that their flaming scarlet eyes were directly across from each other.

"I told you that I would take those eyes from you the next time you looked upon me with them Uchiha." The jinchuuriki cooed in sickeningly sweet voice. "And I always keep my promises. After all, it's my ninja way." Sasuke closed his eyes when the screech of metal on metal met his ears; bracing himself against the inevitable pain that those wicked blades were about to inflict on him.

Except nothing happened.

The Uchiha mustered up the courage to open his eyes. But the sight that greeted him was almost too much to believe.

Naruto was standing in front of him, his face a mixture of confusion and disbelief as he looked down at the mess of long eight-inch talons that sprouted from his chest. Talons that Inuzuka Kiba had currently run him through with.

"Put him down you bastard." The dog-nin growled darkly.

Sparks of crimson light began to arc off the demon vessel's body. "Should I now?" He threw Sasuke aside and disappeared from view. Kiba's glowing red eyes swiveled around wildly as he tried to locate his missing target. The other boy reappeared on the branch of a tree behind him, causing the dog-nin to whip around and adopt a low defensive stance. What he saw made his blood run cold.

Naruto was spinning a large steel ball on the tip of his finger and grinning like a lunatic as he took aim at the Inuzuka. "Let's see how fast you are when I know you're coming." He let the projectile fly at such speeds that Kiba could do little more then brace himself for the impact. But it never came. The cannonade was suddenly stopped dead by the clawed hand of his teammate.

Kiba looked at the Uchiha with wide eyes. Stemming from his neck, Sasuke currently had a black flame-like pattern running up the length of his arm and spreading across his face. The sharingan spun wildly in his left eye while the other had taken on a golden appearance similar to that of a snake. He gave a fanged grin to his teammate.

"You aren't planning on giving up on me that fast, are you dead-last?"

Kiba returned a dagger-filled smile of his own "Hell no ya stuck up prick. Just try and keep up with me."

"Oh what fun!" Naruto screamed madly from his perch above the pair as he juggled a pair of steel spheres. "Toys that fix themselves. Now I don't have to hold back anymore!"

The pair tensed themselves in preparation for the rain of steel that was sure to come when a familiar voice suddenly rang out.

"Kiba-kun!? Sasuke-kun!? What the hell are three of you doing?" a pause "And what happened to your guy's faces?"

The pair let their eyes snap toward the voice's location for a fraction of a second and what the saw nearly made them fall on their faces.

It was Ino.

And Shikamaru.

And Chouji.

They were alive!

…Wait what?

Neither Kiba nor Sasuke could believe what they were seeing. Had Jiraiya himself not told them about his godson's abysmal genjutsu skills they would've thought that the boy was trying to distract them. Even so they sent out a chakra pulse to disrupt the illusion just in case Naruto had picked up on his demon's aptitude for trickery. But nothing happened. Team nine was really alive. Definitely worse for the wear if the cuts and bruises on Ino and Shikamaru or the sling that Chouji had his arm wrapped in had anything to say about it, but they were still very much among the living.

The shrieking laughter of the blonde jinchuuriki filled the air. Naruto was so beside himself with the whole situation that he fell, still laughing madly all the way, headfirst onto the forest floor some sixty feet below him. Sasuke and Kiba only had the chance share a confounded look before a loud crack signified that the boy had gotten his back on… before he promptly lost it again.

The five genin watched with no small amount of horror as the demon child broke down into tears, clutching his gut and jibbering like a loon, as he rolled back and forth on the ground.

"Oh! Oh God I can't even-" he dissolved into hysterics before he could finish the thought.

Shikamaru gave the pair a confounded look, as if to say 'what the hell did we stumble into?'

Chouji decided to take a more direct route.

"Okay, what the fuck… yeah just in general, what the fuck?"

By this time Kiba and Sasuke had reverted to their normal forms and the duo had their eyes scrunched shut in exasperation.

"Naruto's a dick who likes to mess with people." The Inuzuka clarified needlessly. "And apparently we're idiots."

"Well yeah. We already knew that." Ino deadpanned. "But what could possibly be so funny that would make-" she reached for the right words. "Well anyone, laugh like that?"

The boy decided to answer that question himself as he sprang from his place on the ground to land behind his teammates. He draped his arms over their shoulders in a sort of buddy-buddy fashion that caused the pair no small amount of discomfort.

"They thought I killed you!" Naruto blurted out as though it were the funniest thing in the world.

The pineapple haired genin quirked an eyebrow at this. "That's not very funny."

His heavyset teammate nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, I don't get it. You kill people all the time." He rubbed his arm in the sling. "Damn near did too." He added under his breath.

"Wait wait it gets better. As if that wasn't good enough they thought that I fed you." He pointed at the blonde kunoichi. "To Kiba!" The boy threw back his head and howled in laughter at the looks of horror disgust that played across the faces of team ten. "That's it! That was just what they looked like, except a hundred times better! Oh god I love you peasants. Totally worth all the horseshit just for that."

Kiba fumbled in his coat for a moment before withdrawing his team's scroll. "B-but it smells like Ino." He sputtered.

"That's because I was the one carrying it before your _teammate _decided to relive us of it." Ino said as she glared at Naruto who did his best to look innocent. She then rounded on Kiba. "Thanks for leading him right to us by the way. Chouji almost lost his arm because of that."

Kiba's face fell as he once again felt an icy wave of guilt wash over him and settle uncomfortably in his stomach. He opened his mouth, fully prepared to beg his friends for forgiveness, but soon found himself cut off by his sadistic teammate.

"Oh come come now; you can't seriously be angry at the Inuzuka can you?"

Team ten sent the grinning boy a shared look that clearly said 'like hell we can't.'

Naruto's grin intensified. "You three don't understand just how lucky you are, do you? Don't let my winning smile fool you; I'm really rather cruel. It's quite a miracle that you're all still breathing let alone mostly intact. Be happy," the boy's eyes flashed murderously. "If there's one thing that truly infuriates me it's ingratitude."

The genin in question shared a nervous look and unconsciously took a few steps backward. For their parts both Kiba and Sasuke tensed under the jinchuuriki's tightening grip in preparation to defend their friends. But then Naruto began to laugh again, and the tension lessened slightly.

"At the risk of appearing sociable I have to admit, I actually hate you three the least out of all the little Leaf-nin in this exam."

All the little Leaf-nin returned his sentiments with a flat look that clearly showed they didn't believe him.

"I'm serious." The blond insisted in the mock childish voice that he often used when messing with people. "Akimichi, please tell the class how I took your scroll from your team."

Chouji's face reddened in anger as he relived the moment. "You jumped us when we were sleeping and threatened to rip my arm off and beat the others to death with it if we didn't give you our scroll."

"I did do that didn't I?" Naruto questioned in a far off manner. "Good times. And how did your teammates respond to this."

"Ino gave you the scroll and you left."

A smirk pulled at the boy's mouth. "Exactly. She did what I asked her to do quickly, quietly, and to the best of her ability. See that's what I love about your team. You're weak," his eyes moved to Chouji, "and fat," they went to Shikamaru "and lazy," they finally settled on Ino "and…" he stopped for a second before stroking his chin.

The pause lasted for a while longer until the other blonde spoke up "and cute?" she said reachingly.

Naruto's smiled, "Oh sure, why not. And cute." Ino sent her clearly unamused teammates a smug look. "But more than this, you all know it. Likewise you acknowledge me as your better and seek to please me. You will live long with this kind of mindset."

The demon child squeezed Sasuke's shoulder rather painfully. "Perhaps you could learn from their example Uchiha. You appear to be suicidally keen to piss me off lately."

The boy merely grunted in return.

"Well now, if everyone's done going potty, I think we should head for the tower. It would be terribly rude of us to keep everyone waiting." The genin shared a round of uncertain nods before trailing after Naruto who'd already began to plow through the underbrush.

Sasuke turned his head toward his blonde former teammate. "Are you guys okay?"

Ino smiled at his concern. "Yeah we're okay for the most part. Naruto yanked on Chouji's arm pretty good. I'm almost positive that it's dislocated and that some of his ligaments might be torn but he'll live." She twirled her bangs sheepishly. "It was like Naruto said; we didn't even try to fight back. We just gave up and gave him the scroll. It doesn't really matter I guess. We ended up stumbling across another one sitting inside a pair of bloody clothes; I guess whoever killed the other person didn't even bother to take their scroll."

Sasuke nodded. "You did good. You guys are no match for him."

"And you think you are?" she shot back. "You can't keep challenging him Sasuke-kun. One of these days he'll really kill you." Her eyes fell and the heat left her voice. "I don't think I could deal with loosing you. And neither could Kiba. He talks a big game about how he wants to kick your ass but you really mean a lot to him; even if he won't admit it."

A scowl formed on the Uchiha's face. "I wouldn't be too sure about that, I've become much stronger out here in the forest."

Ino remembered the way he and Kiba looked when her team had stumbled in on the fight. Her teammates had looked like monsters. Especially Kiba. With those long razor-like claws, glowing red eyes, and a fang filled grin she'd initially thought that she'd run across the demon of the Leaf again. More than that though, something about her teammate felt wrong. It was almost like the feeling that she got when Naruto was around.

She shuddered. "So what did happen to you guys to make you look that way?"

Sasuke honestly didn't know what happened to make them change like that. All he remembered was that he was in pain and then suddenly he wasn't. That and he felt like he was strong enough to tear a man in half. He was about to tell her an edited version of his thoughts until Naruto interrupted him.

"Let the poor Uchiha be, my pet, he's had a rough day." The jinchuuriki let his eyes fall onto the girl. "Come here Ino-chan. I'm lonely walking up here all by myself."

She gave her dark haired teammate a nervous look before slowly walking over to the other blond. Naruto wasted no time in making the kunoichi as _un_comfortable as he possibly could by wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her close against him as he continued to walk.

"It's because you're so cute Ino-chan." He purred darkly into her ear; his hot breath sending unpleasant shivers down her spine.

Shikamaru didn't like the look of this situation. He'd never heard anything about the demon child forcing himself on someone, but there was a first time for everything. God he wished that the boy was sane. At least then he'd be able to get a bead on when he was being serious and when he was playing with their minds. All his tactical genius went right out the window when he was dealing with an opponent who was literally willing to "die" from laughter.

Kiba's thoughts were of the same vein as his shadow using friend, though they were admittedly duller. "Why is she 'Ino-chan' while everyone else is their clan name?" he whispered to no one in particular.

"Fuck you, that's why." The jinchuuriki answered bluntly as he and his unwilling companion continued to march ahead of the group towards the end of the second phase of the exams.

XXXXXXXXX

Mitarashi Anko let out a sigh as she stood at the entrance to the large tower in the center of the Forest of Death. She was not looking forward to what she was about to have to do.

For whatever reason, it seemed that this year was the year that old Sarutobi finally went out of his mind. Not only was the demon of Konoha participating in the exams this year, a fact that made ritual suicide sound like a valid alternative to proctoring the exam, but so were all of his freaky little demon friends.

It was the team from Cloud that legitimately scared the crap out of her though. She knew for a fact that all of their members were high level Jonin. Hell, she'd actually faced off against Tee on one of her missions and she knew first hand just how dangerous the man could be. And, as if that wasn't bad enough, he was paired with not one but **two** jinchuuriki. And one of them played host to the eight-tails! How could the Hokage allow this team into the exams, let alone into the village!? They'd gotten through the second phase of the exams in seven minutes and thirty four seconds.

Seven. Minutes.

It took her at least forty minutes to get through the forest, and that was without having to collect a scroll and contend with other ninja. After they'd left she went ahead and calculated how fast that they would have to be moving to get through the forest in seven minutes.

Answer: about 200 miles per hour.

You've got to be fucking kidding.

And from there it didn't get much better. The team from Suna made it to the tower in only ninety seven minutes, which broke the old record by a good four hours.

And then Might Guy's team showed up only about six hours later. Whatever the man was feeding his genin she wanted some.

Now, if she was to believe what her scouts were telling her, the vessel of the nine-tails was making his way to the tower with Asuma's team in tow. Normally she'd make some snide remark about team seven doing it wrong since they managed to come out of the exam with more team members than they went in with, but with the way that the forest had been lighting up like the sun last night she didn't think that that was a very good idea.

This whole situation was waaay too concerning for words to describe. And her fears most certainly did not get better after she'd caught glimpses of Sarutobi, Jiraiya, Danzo, and Shikaku coming out of the kinjutsu vaults late at night.

The old man knew that something big was about to happen and she definitely did not like being left in the dark. Especially since it was her fine ass that was going to be on the chopping block.

An unfamiliar presence at her back instantly had the serpent mistress on high alert.

She whipped around, kunai in hand, only to realize a split-second later that she'd just drawn her weapon on the absolute last person that she want to have mad at her.

Killer Bee.

The large dark-skinned man looked down at her with an amused smirk as he nonchalantly moved the point of her kunai away from his face.

"C'mon snakey-snake. Ya gotta look before ya leap. Ya gotta be careful what ya sow," A toothy grin spread across the man's face. "Cause I ain't careful when I reap. You feel me?"

Anko put the knife away and smiled the fakest smile she could muster while she inwardly began to form battle plans for what would almost certainly be her final fight.

She rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment "He he sorry about that uhh.."

"Killer Bee." The man finished for her.

"Killer-eight." Another voice echoed from behind her.

As much as she didn't want to, Anko turned around anyway.

The sight that greeted her was that of the demon child looking just as crazy as he always did with a thoroughly freaked out Yamanaka cradled snugly by his side. Trailing just a short distance behind the pair was the rest of their team members.

"My dear Killer-eight." The boy continued. He released his intimate grip on Ino who wasted no time in scurrying away from the boy and back to the safety of her team. "I wasn't expecting you to greet me in person. If I had known that I'd be entertaining company I would've made myself presentable."

The man smirked and looked over Naruto's shoulder to the light of the dying sun. "Ain't gonna stay long, just wachen' the sun set. Big day after tomorrow, I may not be ready yet."

A smile spread across the jinchuuriki's face as he handed his pair of scrolls to Anko. "You really must hire an exterminator." He commented absently as he too turned to watch the burning sky. "I fear that your forest might have something of a snake problem."

The words set off warning bells in the Jonin's head but she still managed to play it cool. "What's the matter, did one of the brats on your team get bitten or something?"

Naruto chuckled. "Yes indeed he did. The little Uchiha managed to get bitten by a viper prince; same one that got you if I recall correctly."

Her blood ran cold and she unconsciously let her hand slip to the cursed seal on her neck.

"You may want to ask the old man or my godfather if they have any antidote still on hand. I hear tell that _his _venom can be rather precarious unless you deal with it quickly."

His words were meaningless though; the woman had long since vanished in a swirl of leaves.

XXXXXXX

Anko was praying that the fates were on her side as she burst into the Hokage's office. If they weren't, and it turned out that the old man didn't know that she was coming, she was about to find herself impaled on a half dozen ANBU standard issue ninjato.

Thankfully she wasn't, though the scene that she'd intruded on was equally disturbing.

Her unannounced entrance was met with the blank stares and eerily stoic faces of the third, his student Jiraiya, and the old warmonger Danzo. She felt her skin crawl when the three men shared a look among each other before turning their attention to her.

In spite of her discomfort she hadn't forgotten her initial reason for coming here. "Hokage-sama, please excuse my intrusion sir but I've just discovered something of dire importance to the safety of Konoha."

The Hokage's face remained featureless. His old grey eyes were drilling holes into her and she couldn't help but fidget under his unblinking gaze.

"Danzo-san." The Sandaime spoke without looking away from her. "Please close the door."

The bandaged man gave a curt bow to his leader before brushing past her to shut the door.

"Jiraiya. Silencing seals please."

"Of course Hokage-sama." The toad Sannin quickly unrolled a large scroll on his back before channeling his chakra through it. The entire room flashed blue as intricate eldritch symbols leapt from the page onto the walls and celling before disappearing.

Now that that was out of the way, the old man turned his attention back Anko. "What have you discovered?"

"Orochimaru has infiltrated the Chunin exams." She divulged quickly. "And to make matters worse, he's branded Uchiha Sasuke with the cursed seal of the heavens. I think he plans to take the boy's body for his own."

The men shared another look.

"It seems that things are now set in motion, Hokage-sama, just as we have predicted." Danzo spoke in a hushed tone. "Did the seal show you the proper course of action to take?"

Sarutobi nodded and rubbed his face wearily. "They've showed me that if we were to remove the mark or seal away its influence then Sasuke would fall in the battle to come. We will live it unsealed. His life and the lives of many Leaf-nin depend on it."

Anko's eyes went wide at his words. 'He really has gone mad!'

Jiraiya voiced similar thoughts. "Are you sure that there's no other way around this than to leave Sasuke to the seal? You and I both know first hand just how dangerous Orochimaru's techniques can be. What if his mind isn't strong enough to handle it?"

"It will be. At least that is what I have foreseen. We must have faith in young Sasuke. And faith in the Yondaime's technique. Afterall," The old man paused to let a serpent of blue smoke escape from his lips. "You've already seen its power once when the Kyuubi was sealed."

Suddenly it all clicked for Anko. "You can… you can see the future can't you? That's what you've been doing in the kinjutsu vaults. That's why you've been acting so strange lately. You know that something's about to happen. All of those jinchuuriki, you're setting them up for something."

The Hokage remained stoic. "Yes. You are correct on all accounts Mitarashi-san. Danzo and Jiraiya have been keeping tabs on the Akatsuki and their associates for some time now. This, of course, also includes my old student. They will strike very soon, and when they strike they will do so with the intention of never having to strike again. The fate of the Leaf village rests on razor's edge, if we stray but a little the village will be destroyed."

Anko let his words sink in. Normally she was calm and composed but this was a perfectly acceptable time to lose her shit. Akatsuki. _All_ of them. And Orochimaru. And four demon hosts, two of which were the nine-tails and the eight-tails. And any visiting Kage that happened to be invited to join in this lunacy. Sarutobi's plan had better be the best goddamn plan in the entire universe because from where she was standing she couldn't see a future in which the village was still standing.

"W-what can we do?" she asked frantically.

"We will play them all against each other." The old man said with the barest hint of a smirk tugging at his lips. "The Akatsuki plan to capture the tailed beasts. Let's just say that the Raikage becomes quite…agreeable in matters that concern the safety of his younger brother."

"And what about the collateral!?" She all but screamed at her leader. "Tens of thousands are going to die in the crossfire! You're all but inviting the most powerful ninja in the entire elemental lands slug it out in the middle of the village! Konoha is going to be dust!"

Sarutobi let out another plume of smoke before calmly rising to his feet. "Are you frightened Mitarashi-san?"

"Fuck yeah I am!" she shot back instantly. "And anyone who says otherwise is out of their mind."

"That is what we're counting on." Jiraiya answered. Anko was about to say something but the Hokage held up his hand for silence and she instinctively complied. "Though they are powerful, Akatsuki also fears the power of the tailed beasts. Their leader is a tyrant who rules over them with an iron fist and my spies have told me that many of the members have grown discontented as of late. The majority of their organization no longer shares in their leader's fanatical goals; they now only serve his cause out of fear. With this in mind, we have reason to believe that many will defect from Akatsuki once battle is waged. More over they don't seek to kill, at least not directly. They only wish to sow confusion so that they can easily capture their targets." The old man rubbed the jagged scars that ran down the length of his face. He was all too familiar with that type of tactic. "Konoha is much more than just bricks and mortar and timber. It is in the lives of its people. Homes can be rebuilt far easier than human lives can."

"This is what the Hokage has foreseen." Danzo spoke calmly. "Do you question his judgment, as well as the judgment of myself and Jiraiya-sama?"

She wanted to spit back a "Hell yeah I do!" but instead opted to remain silent.

"Plans are already in place to evacuate the civilians and the ninja who are not suited to fight in this battle. We know the enemy's strategy and have already devised multiple methods of counter-attacking. But all of this hinges on the future remaining unchanged. Even the smallest detail could alert the Akatsuki to our plan, at which point we would all be as good as dead. None but the Hokage, myself, Jiraiya-sama, and Shikaku-san can know about the invasion."

Anko's eyes widened for a moment before going hard. If her life could mean that the Leaf village had a chance to survive she was fully prepared to give it.

She had been since the moment she first wore her hitai-ite.

"Am I to report to Ibiki for execution Hokage-sama?" she questioned resolutely.

The old man let the façade of indifference he wore slip away and for the first time in long while a warm smile came to his face. He walked over to her and placed his hand reassuringly on her shoulder. "No Anko. That won't be necessary. You are a daughter of the Leaf village and one of my many children; I would never order that unless I had no other choice." The snake-mistress let out a breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding in. "Danzo is right though, Akatsuki must never know of our plans." The Hokage continued. "Jiraiya is going to seal your memories of this moment away."

The man in question began to unroll a scroll from his vest and motioned for Anko to come over to him. "I'm sorry to do this to you Mitarashi-san, I'm told that it can be quite painful."

She gave him a grin that held far more confidence than she did. "Can't hurt anymore than all those beatings you get during your research right Jiraiya?"

He chuckled. "No I suppose not."

'Yes. Defiantly.'

The toad Sannin placed his hand against the scroll and removed from it what looked like a ball of violet flame. He then placed his hand against her head.

"Seal."

Agony exploded throughout her mind. It felt like the man was pouring a caldron of molten lead into her skull. It hurt so bad she couldn't think, couldn't breathe. She couldn't even scream. Thankfully after a few more seconds of this treatment her legs buckled and she pitched forward into blissful unconsciousness.

Jiraiya caught her and set her down on the floor of the Hokage's office. He turned to his teacher. "You're absolutely sure that we can't remove Sasuke's curse seal?"

The man gave him a resolute nod before once again lighting his pipe. "He will die without its power."

"He'll go mad if he uses it." Jiraiya retorted. "Then where will that leave us? The last thing that the village needs is another Itachi on its hands."

"We must deal with the problem at hand." The bandaged patriot admonished. "Konoha has a war to prepare for and we must sink all available resource into that. We will deal with other problems afterward."

"I must agree with Danzo." Sarutobi said. "I know you feel like you're betraying your student Jiraiya, but he's going to be right in the thick of it. He will be on his own until the ANBU begin to evacuate the genin."

The other man sighed. He didn't like this plan one bit. "Fine. But what should we do about the rest of the genin currently still in the forest? They were to be given one more day to make it to the tower."

"Fail them. Have ANBU round them up and send them home. Tell them that there's a dangerous criminal on the loose in the forest and that they had to be sent home for their own safety."

Danzo sent the man a surprised look. "This will not help strengthen the image of Konoha in the eyes of the other villages."

"I do not care. What is important now is saving as many lives as we can. I bare the burden for my actions today, and if I live though the battle I will resign immediately. Prolonged use of the Yondaime's jutsu has already sealed my fate. I'll be lucky if I have the rest of the year to live."

Jiraiya's face fell. He knew what the price was to activate Minato's jutsu. Even with his help, his student had barely been strong enough to seal the nine-tails away after using the technique to predict the demon's actions. Sarutobi had been getting weaker and weaker ever since his battle with Naruto all those years ago. It was nothing short of a miracle that he'd been able to hold on for as long as he had.

"What should we do about those who are already in the tower?" The Sannin asked.

"Give them a day to recover and see to their wounds. After that the preliminaries begin."

Both men bowed to their leader before disappearing in a whirlwind of leaves.


	21. Release restraint

**An: **Wow this chapter is long. It's over nine thousand words *throws up*. This story just broke 500 reviews so thanks to everyone who helped me get this far. It's my goal to see if I can get this shitbucket all the way to 1000 so if you want to make a pathetic man happy, all you have to do is pretend that you care about me for a little bit. I don't really know what to say about this chapter except that it was easily the funnest for me to write thus far. I was out of my tiny mind when I wrote this thing so there are references to things all over the place. I also want to say that near the end of this chapter I blatantly (underline blatantly) rip off a scene from Hellsing. If you like Hellsing you'll probably like the end of this. Or you'll think I'm a no talent hack which is also barrels of fun. Little bit of bad news though; I won't be updating this story for a little while. I need to get some school things out of the way first, but don't worry I'm not going to disappear for 2 years again. Also bad news but not quite as bad; I'm posting this chapter without proofreading it first. I'll get to it eventually, but if I don't post this thing tonight it's going to be about three weeks before I get it up. Hope you understand.

~Plagius

* * *

The final day of the exams passed without incident. Which was nothing short of amazing considering just how many jinchuuriki were packed into a relatively small space. For the most part, the demon hosts seemed all too happy to avoid one another. Naruto, honor bound as he was, felt there was little purpose in speaking with his eight-tailed counterpart since the man was content to speak in nothing but riddles; something which caused the boy's already dwindling patience with his current predicament to be only further exacerbated. He knew it was a mistake to accept a challenge from the man.

It wasn't that he was afraid that he was going to lose; in fact his heart pounded fervently within his chest at the prospect of the fiery, agonizing death that awaited the both of them when they inevitably clashed on the battlefield. His soul, every fiber of his being, cried out in rapture when he imagined the feel of his bones breaking beneath the other man's blows. Screamed in ecstasy at the thought of his body being slashed to ribbons by those razor sharp blades the man carried on his back. And wept in pleasure at the taste of the man's flesh and blood as his fang-filled jaws slammed shut around the neck of his fellow jinchuuriki. No, he was afraid that he'd end up disgracing his good name by going back on their agreement and fighting Killer-Bee before the designated time.

The boy was sinking every ounce of his waning focus into finding some way to distract himself from the ever more appealing option of simply saying 'fuck the rules I have money' and setting off a cannonade doppelganger as he passed the other man in the hallway. As it was, the demon child contented himself by messing with the Yamanaka girl, A hobby that he was quickly finding to be far more enjoyable then he'd originally perceived it to be.

Loathe as he was to admit it, the impossible had happened and the little Uchiha just didn't entertain him like he used to. The spark had gone out of their relationship, and somewhere along the way Naruto had realized that, while he still loved to beat the stuffing out of the uppity sharingan wielder, it wasn't in the same crane-kickingly good way that it had used to be. With Ino though, it was an entirely different story.

He wasn't lying when he'd said that she was cute. She was. Adorable in fact. Especially when her face would pale to that almost corpse-like shade of whitish grey when he held her in an overly familiar fashion. To everyone else she was loud and boisterous and bossy; a proud kunoichi of the Leaf who wasn't afraid to kick ass and take names if you pissed her off. But with him all the fire would seep out of her words and she'd shrink up like a delicate flower; scarcely daring to breathe for fear of upsetting him.

It was all too clear why she was so nervous around him. And honestly _that_ thought was the furthest thing from his from his mind. He was crazy but even he had his limits. However, she and the others didn't need to know that.

"How does it feel Ino-chan?" he whispered as he continued to comb his fingers through her hair.

"I-it feels very nice Uzumaki-sama." She replied with a timid squeak, her whole body as stiff as a board.

He lowered his nose to her hair and took in her scent, an action which caused her no small amount of dismay if her shivering had anything to say about it. "Good." He purred as he nuzzled against her. Even without his acute hearing it would have been hard not to hear her heart thundering within her chest.

As he continued to play his little game he absently wondered if he could get her to faint again, like she'd done when he had first introduced himself to their little team. Probably not. The more likely scenario was that she'd be stabbing him in the face. Or perhaps a smaller more sensitive area.

A predatory grin crossed his face as he began to nibble at her ponytail. 'Oh well. Ya never know tell you try.'

XXXXXXXXX

The fifteen genin found themselves in a large underground arena unlike any they'd ever seen. The vast majority of the room, or non-room as it was, consisted of a giant central pit that dropped down some three hundred feet. According to the acoustics of the room the pit was actually far deeper than this, but only those whose eyes were enhanced by demonic chakra and Neji with the aid of his byakugan were able to tell how far down it really went. On either side of the arena were two big metal freight elevators whose purpose could only be to ferry their unfortunate guests into the yawning darkness that lay below.

Shikamaru was the first to devise the purpose of the room. The implications alone were enough to make the normally laid-back genin break out into an uneasy sweat. And when the jinchuuriki shared a round of knowing laughter he only began to feel worse. Slowly the other genin came to the same conclusion as their resident genius and no one, not even the rambunctious Lee, could find the heart to act confident now.

They were in demon country.

This entire area was designed in hopes that the massive amount of distance between the combatants and the observers would somehow help to negate the damage that the battle between four jinchuuriki would inevitably bring. Here they were outsiders, unwelcome distractions that would only serve to draw the ire of a foe that they couldn't possibly stand against.

Neji turned to his teammates. "If any of us get paired against one of the ninja from Cloud, or against the red-head from Suna or Naruto, we forfeit immediately. Understood?"

The bun-haired weapon mistress was only too quick to nod.

Lee on the other hand looked like he was going to be ill. Surrender wasn't a part of his vocabulary. As a genius of hard work, he'd spent his entire life playing the role of the underdog. No one ever expected anything of him, and he had to claw his way to victory every step of the way. To give up without even trying was nothing short of a mortal sin to the green-clad genin. It went against literally everything he believed in.

"Lee." Tenten said.

He looked at her.

"I want you to promise me that you won't fight them. Please Lee, they'll kill you if you get in their way."

The boy let out a defeated sigh. "Alright Tenten. I promise, on the fires of my youth, that I won't fight them." The words tasted so bitter when he said them. She could tell that it was truly difficult for him to say those things.

She put her hand on his shoulder. "Thanks Lee."

He nodded silently.

Around the stadium he could see many of the other teams discussing the same matter. He couldn't help but glare at the form of Naruto who currently stood directly across from him on the other side of the pit. The boy's eyes twinkled darkly, no doubt having heard what his teammate had said about him, and beckoned to Lee in a sort of 'come and get' type gesture.

The staring mach was interrupted as series of flood lights suddenly blazed to life around the arena.

"Don't let him get to you Lee." The boy whipped around to see the grinning image of his sensei striking a 'good guy' pose. "Your fires of youth burn hotter than his ever will."

For his part, the taijutsu specialist was more than happy to fall into this cheerful routine. "Yosh Guy-sensei! I didn't even notice that you snuck up on me. As punishment, after the exams I shall do one thousand kicks and one thousand punches!"

The Jonin's grin somehow got impossibly wider and Neji could almost hear the 'ping' that the teeth of his eccentric teacher made. "That's the spirit Lee!"

"Guy-sensei!"

"LEE!"

"GUY-SENSEI!"

The pair embraced as the scene of a crashing wave during the fiery light of the dying sun played behind them. Most of the teams shared a confused look at the scene before them. Gaara however, voiced the feelings of the jinchuuriki who were present.

"Pretty sunset." He murmured in a far off manner.

"Yeah…"

"Quite."

"Fool! Ya fool!"

The rest of the sensei's entered the arena and took their places next to their respective teams.

"You guys ready for this?" Jiraiya questioned his students before sending a look across the way to Ino. "These preliminary matches can be brutal. I've seen people die in these things before. If you think you're outmatched there's no pride to be lost in surrendering."

"Hey Jiraiya-sensei, you know what's also brutal?" Kiba questioned abruptly.

The man winced inwardly; no doubt his students had suffered quite an ordeal out in the forest. "What?"

"Trekking through a god forsaken jungle for two days with the craziest motherfucker I've ever met. You know what the high point of that experience was? The walk in. You wanna know the second high point? Getting my ass kicked off a tree by stretch-legs M'gee and having to drag Sasuke-sadsack through the forest all by myself while your godson bounces rocks off my head!"

"They were teeth god_damn_ you." Naruto corrected as he sauntered casually over to the group. "You call yourself a ninja; pay attention."

Kiba threw his hands up in an exaggerated matter. "Oh I'm sorry! They were teeth! Hey Naruto-sama look at all the fucks I give!"

"Huh? But you're not holding up any fing- Oh I see what you did." The boy clicked his tongue before promptly head butting the startled Inuzuka with enough force to knock him to the ground.

"So how are you doing Godfather dearest?"

"Oh you know. My students are whiney ingrates and my godson acting unruly again. Maybe I should take a vacation."

"Maybe you should be quiet Jiraiya-chan." The voice of his teacher rang out from his place on an observation deck located above the balcony that the genin were currently standing on.

The toad Sannin then looked around and realized that everyone present had seen his team's juvenile exchange. Ino, her face buried in her hands, looked particularly ashamed to say that she knew them at the moment. The man at least had the good graces to rub his head in embarrassment.

Naruto on the other hand didn't have the good graces of a drunken gorilla and was perfectly happy to voice his feelings.

"Oh come on old man." He whined childishly. "I had the best comeback in the world set up for him and you ruined it!"

Kiba rubbed his head as he stood up. "A head butt isn't a comeback." He muttered under his breath.

The demon child apparently didn't believe him and the Inuzuka once again found himself thrown to the ground by the other boy's unnaturally dense head. "Shows what you know fuck-face."

"Fuck-face… I like that one Errol. I'll have to remember that one the next time I'm climbing off your mum." The boy only stopped talking after his blond teammate had made it physically impossible to do otherwise by planting his booted foot squarely in the boy's mouth. Unbeknownst to his teacher, Kiba had apparently not only inherited a sliver Naruto's powers, but had also inherited the boy's uncanny ability to never let a personal insult go. Oh wheee. What fun Jiraiya was going to have now that he had two braying jackasses for students. It was all that he'd ever wanted.

Naruto turned back to the Hokage. "Can we please move this along? We all know why we're here; can't we just start kicking the crap out of each other?" His lurid crimson eyes fell first to Killer-Bee then to Gaara, who was already releasing a steady cloud of sand from the gourd on his back. "I'm just so giddy to play my part for the village that I might go maaaaad." He all but sang the last part.

The Sandaime rubbed his face tiredly, an act that he'd found himself doing quite a lot these days. He'd had a speech prepared about the friendship and camaraderie that the Chunin exams fostered between villages. But seeing as how his village was about to be invaded by the Sound, Sand, and Cloud it meant literally less than nothing, because it would only serve as a self contradiction.

"Hayate-san. If you please."

At that, a sickly looking chunin appeared in a flourish of leaves. The man appeared about to speak when he was suddenly beset by a coughing fit. Most of the chunin hopefuls were anything but relieved that this was the man who would be proctoring the jinchuuriki battle royale. "The rules for the preliminary match of the exam are exactly as stated in the paperwork that you all signed before entering the exams." Another coughing fit. "If anyone wants to back out now, all you have to do is raise your hand."

There were no surprised faces in the room when Chouji raised his non-dominant hand. Courtesy of Naruto, the boy's arm was pretty well injured. It wasn't drastic enough to force him to retire as a ninja. Most likely he would be fine in a couple weeks, but a few sessions of medical jutsu on a two day old injury weren't nearly enough to repair the damage that had been caused.

Hayate merely nodded before crossing his name off his list and motioning to some unseen figure on the Kage's observation deck. "Anyone else?" Nobody else raised their hands. "Alright, if you'll direct your attention to the board we can get this underway."

They did so and names began to rapidly flash across the screen.

No small amount of sweating, praying, and nail biting took place in the brief interval before the participants of the first match were decided. Simple math told the genin that they had about a 40% chance of losing their match before it had even began. Even for a non-ninja, that was far too much uncertainty to make a person feel secure.

The names on the board finally stopped and a rush of excited whispers filled the air.

**Uchiha Sasuke vs. Hyuuga Neji**

"Oh this oughtta be good. Hey Sasuke, I bet you wish that you'd let me teach you kenjutsu right about now."

The boy only grunted in response at his sensei's dig, but inwardly he did wish that he'd at least learned the basics. Even if he was armed with just a stick it would've done wonders for his survivability. Against the Hyuuga's juuken, blocking a strike was the same as letting them hit you in the first place. Guess he'd better not let himself get hit then.

His sharingan spun to life and he began to stare down the calmly smirking byakugan user as they made their ways to the elevators.

"Don't let him smack you in your smug prick face Sasuke!" Kiba added unhelpfully after he'd once again managed to stand up.

"Or let him poke you in the eye." Naruto shoehorned in. "That would be just dreadful."

"C'mon Neji!" his bun-haired teammate yelled. "Poke him in the eye! Juuken style: one thousand years of death!"

The pearl eyed boy simply shook his head, his arrogant smirk still firmly in place, as he stepped off the elevator.

"The fates are most unkind to you, Uchiha Sasuke." The veins around his eyes bulged signaling that he'd activated his byakugan. "From the moment that you were named as my opponent you'd already lost. Today everyone will see just which doujutsu is the strongest."

Sasuke's sharingan rotated slowly as he mirrored the look of superiority on the other shinobi's face. "Yes. They will."

Above them the screen crackled to life, projecting an image of what was happening in the arena below.

Hayate walked over to the two boys who were busy trying to use their most prized possessions to set each other on fire. "This is a competition; not a death match. If either of you become too injured to continue fighting I will end the match. If you kill an opponent who has given up you will be stripped of your ninja rank and executed for the crimes of murder and treason. Do I make myself quite clear?"

Both combatants nodded.

"Then begin!"

No sooner had the chunin jumped clear when a blinding flash erupted between the pair. Shortly thereafter two more flashes went off around the Hyuuga. Neji, now fully aware of his opponent's plan, was quick to go on the defensive. It was an interesting maneuver, blinding the supposed all seeing eye by taking advantage of the fact that it would continue working whether or not he closed his eyes in time to counter the flash bomb. Interesting but not unexpected. He'd managed to instinctively deactivate his bloodline halfway though the first flash.

Neji, not entirely blind, barely managed to redirect the boy's killing blow into his shoulder. White hot pain lanced through the Hyuuga's arm as the knife no doubt found its way to his radial nerve, but he grit his teeth and lashed out with his good hand. His fingers struck Sasuke in the wrist, forcing the boy to drop his kunai, and then followed with a series of lightning quick jabs to his midsection. The Uchiha fell to the ground, coughing up blood, before evaporating in a cloud of smoke.

It was only thanks to his sharingan and some quick thinking that kept Sasuke from ending up like his shadow clone. This was bad though. He'd used up most of his flash bombs and about a third of his chakra on that single shadow clone alone. He'd meant to end this fight in a single blow. But now, with his wrist still tingling painfully and Neji closing in at remarkable speeds; it looked as though he'd have to deal with fabled gentle fist style head on until he could find an opportunity to gain distance.

The Hyuuga reactivated his byakugan upon reaching his target and snapped off a flurry of blows, each one just barely missing their target as he continued to press his advantage and slowly back the Uchiha across the arena.

Sasuke could do little more then dodge strike after countless strike as his opponent continued to gain ground on him. The boy landed two sharp jabs on his legs and another to his left shoulder leaving painful numbness in their wake. Sasuke faltered again in his footing, his muscles not working properly, and was rewarded with a hard kick to the inside of his ankle. The action had him unbalanced for just a moment before he was once again in motion but in that time three more blows struck home, the last of which had him coughing up blood.

A flinch of pain due to Sasuke's earlier attack and barely a second of hesitation in Neji's onslaught was all it took for the wounded Uchiha to turn the tables. He read the path of the blow with his sharingan and redirected it before retaliating with his own version of a juuken strike as he drove his fingers into wound of Neji's injured shoulder. He twisted, kicking out his opponent's legs as he went, and then used the airborne genin like a springboard as drove the Hyuuga into the ground with a vicious flip kick that created some much need breathing room between them.

Neji, rattled but not unconscious, launched to his feet and began to rapidly close distance with his target. Another flash went off and just as before the Hyuuga deactivated his kekkei genkai. Neji smirked; he was able to see perfectly this time. The Uchiha was running headlong into his own demise. He watched as the boy covered the distance between them in the blink of an eye. Neji was fully prepared to counter the punch that was aimed at his head; at least he had been until it abruptly appeared four inches lower than it previously was.

He took the hit full in the neck and felt his windpipe bow in the most excruciating manner just before taking second and third punch to the solar plexus which sent him to his knees in a fit of coughing. Neji looked up just in time to see Sasuke getting ready to drop kick him, and rolled to the side. But again the Uchiha's body seemed to teleport in mid-flight and again he took the full brunt of the attack. He heard a loud crack as his jaw broke from the force of the kick and then Neji was airborne.

He activated his byakugan to cover his blind spots and suddenly it all made sense. 'Genjutsu.' He'd made eye contact with the Uchiha's sharingan after having deactivated his bloodline limit due to his opponent's attempt to blind him. Though they didn't truly see though genjutsu, his eyes allowed him to realize when he'd been placed under the sway of one. After reactivating it, breaking the illusion was child's play. But Sasuke didn't need to know the last part.

Neji braced himself for blow as he watched the Uchiha seemingly teleport through the air to intercept him. The punishing fist against his back had stars flying in front of his pale eyes, but the Hyuuga was willing to endure a bit of pain in order to enact his plan.

He spun, catching his opponent off guard with his unpredicted burst of speed, and struck like coiled viper. Two blows, one to the stomach and one to the left pectoral. Then two more to the center of the Uchiha's body. He dropped low and stuck the next four points in the sequence, left knee, left thigh, abdomen and…right hand?

That wasn't right…

Neji watched with no small amount of dismay as his opponent began to mimic him perfectly, the Uchiha's now three tomoed sharingan eye blazing wildly as it tracked his super fast blows. The next eight strikes all missed their intended targets, instead striking Sasuke's _incredibly _numb hands. As did the next sixteen, followed by the final thirty two. The sharingan wielder had copied his motions perfectly throughout the full set of the eight trigrams: sixty four palms. And though his hands might never recover from the nerve damage, the Uchiha was still standing.

And he was pissed.

Neji's eyes went wide as the Uchiha slammed his skull against the boy's nose, causing blood to fountain from it as it broke. His neck, being one of the few places on his body that still retained feeling after Hyuuga's juuken assault, didn't leave Sasuke with many options to work with. He could barely stand, let alone chase after Neji as he groggily crawled away.

Similar thoughts were racing through the mind of the Hyuuga prodigy. His wound from the beginning of the match was bleeding heavily now and after taking a drop kick right to the head his vision was waaaay past the point of where it could be described as jumbled and disorienting. With his three hundred and sixty degree telescopic vision he was fighting a losing battle against the nausea welling up within him, but he didn't dare deactivate it for fear of getting snared in a genjutsu again. Needless to say, he no longer had the precision required to effectively use the juuken fighting style.

He had only one option left. If this next technique didn't kill him then Guy most certainly would. But what did he expect when he tried to teach secret techniques around a Hyuuga?

"Eight inner gates." He rasped as his eyes burned holes into the Uchiha. "Gate of Opening…kai!"

Sasuke, not to mention the entirety of team Guy, watched in mute horror as the Hyuuga's normally lithe form went rigid as his muscles strained against their limits.

Up on the balcony Asuma let the cigarette fall from between his lips. "Guy you didn't."

Guy's eyes danced with rage and his voice trembled with barely restrained fury when he spoke. "No. I didn't."

His eyes went to Lee whose face was a picture of betrayal and alarm. He knew that Neji's body hadn't undergone the proper conditioning before using this technique. Even if he won the match it would be unlikely that he'd be strong enough to fight during the finals. Actually it would be unlikely that he'd ever be able to fight again.

"Gate of Healing…kai!" A wave of pressure exploded outward from the boy, and the ground beneath him began to crack.

And then he heard something that turned his rapidly heating blood to ice.

"Eight inner gates! Gate of Opening…Kai!"

His eyes flew to Sasuke whose muscles were also bulging unnaturally as held his supposedly injured hands in front of him in a sloppy tiger seal.

His copy eye locked with Neji's gaze. "Gate of Healing…Kai!" The ground around the Uchiha shattered. He flexed his hands as the feeling rushed back into them.

Both combatants spoke as one. "Gate of Life…Kai!" Rubble from the previous blast waves began to float upwards with nothing but raw chakra propelling it. The skin of both Sasuke and Neji took on a distinctive reddish hue as their veins surged with blood.

The pair vanished in a burst of speed that even the jonin sensei had trouble following. At this point Jiraiya had vaulted the rail and was flying toward the arena floor.

Both genin traded multiple blows, each time only appearing for a fraction of a second before their extreme speed once again rendered them invisible. Neji saw an opening and moved to end it, but the sharingan saw through his technique and its wielder beat him to it.

Sasuke roared in pain as he launched kick after bone shattering kick into the Hyuuga, driving the duo into the air. He then torqued his body and locked the other boy's arms behind his back as they began to spiral and rocket violently towards the ground.

"Primary Lotus!"

The screams of team Guy were drowned out by the resounding crash of breaking stone. Dust flew high into the air with the impact of the lotus and for a few horrible seconds no one dared to breathe. At least no one except the jinchuuriki.

Kiba took a few steps away from Naruto who was cackling softly to himself and muttering in some language that made his hair stand on end. The kid from Suna looked equally unstable, having crushed part of the guard railing with a tendril of sand that had snaked out from the gourd on his back as he giggled and rocked back and forth. The pair from Kumo seemed to be faring a little better against their bloodlust, but only barely. Bee's face was contorted into a mad grin as he shredded his notebook with the pencil clenched in his fist. Even Yugito, who was normally calm and collected, had a wicked sneer splayed across her face.

As the dust cleared their looks dissolved into disappointment (in the case of the two most sane demon vessels) and rage (in the case of the other two).

Against all odds Jiraiya had managed to intercept attack just before it touched down, an action which saved Neji from certain death. However, the Sannin had hardly escaped from the attack unscathed. His arms were both broken, shattered by the incredible compressional forces of the dive-bomb attack, along with his right leg which was now positioned awkwardly beneath him. Hayate quickly rushed over to help the toad sage as the man collapsed with the two genin in hand. Both were unconscious and badly injured.

"Get a medic!" Jiraiya shouted as he quickly began to fashion his vest into a makeshift tourniquet to try and staunch the torrent of blood that was gushing from Neji's arm. Somewhere along the way, either during the high speed taijutsu match or from the intense centrifugal force of the primary lotus, the Hyuuga's arm had nearly been torn from the boy's torso. His student wasn't faring any better. The strain from opening three of the eight gates had caused his already compromised internal organs to tear open, and large ugly bruises were rapidly forming under the boy's skin.

He could hear screaming above him as the medics rushed over. Tenten was hysterical. The only thing that was keeping her from vaulting the rail as Jiraiya had done was the bear hug that Lee currently held her in. Guy on the other hand had no such obstacle. He hit the ground with a crash and raced over to Neji.

"Guy he's bleeding out! Cauterize the wound!"

The man whipped out a kunai and began to heat it with a fire jutsu until the metal glowed red hot. It hissed when it met with the remains of Neji's severed artery and the smell of burning meat filled the air. Their first aid was crude but it was the only thing that kept the Hyuuga from dying right then and there. Both men scrambled, or crawled in Jiraiya's case, out of the way as a horde of medics descended on to the injured pair and began to perform diagnostic jutsu and prepare blood transfusions.

Another trio of medics appeared and quickly began to work on the toad sage's broken limbs. Having been teammates with the legendary Tsunade, Jiraiya knew just how effective medical ninjutsu could be. Physical trauma was easy to deal with especially when the time between the injury and the treatment was as short as it had been. His broken bones would be mended within the week if he received medical care daily. Sasuke and Neji on the other hand would take significantly longer to recover. With the quick patch job out of the way, the Hyuuga's life was no longer in immediate danger. His ninja career was an entirely different matter though.

The reason that Tsunade was hailed as the greatest medic-nin of all time wasn't due to the fact that she could reattach arms and legs and heal internal organs. Any well trained medic could do these things if they were given enough time and had enough chakra. No, what set the slug Sannin apart from other medics was the fact that she was able to almost perfectly replicate the damaged tissue that she was healing all the way down to the chakra network itself. Without the woman's superb chakra control, the likelihood that Sasuke and Neji (and even Jiraiya to a very lesser extent) would be unable to properly mold chakra was much higher.

He stifled a grunt as one of the medics finished splinting his leg and waved them off as he began to hobble toward one of the lifts.

"Jiraiya-sama." One of the medics addressed him. "It is highly ill advised to remain active after receiving treatment. You should be resting. Not watching matches."

"I've done much more with much worse than this. I'll be fine for a little while. And I should be here for my students." His eyes trialed to Naruto who was presently glaring daggers down at him. He pushed the lever and the lift groaned to life. "If I leave I'm certain that I'll regret it."

A long elevator ride later found the toad sage face to face with his scowling godson.

"Why did you stop the match godfather? It was getting interesting at the end. I was rather irritated," he said the word with gritted teeth. "When I found out that Hyuuga pate was suddenly taken off the menu."

Jiraiya stumbled as they walked and was surprised to find that the boy had caught him before he fell. He hadn't done that before. The man made a point of ignoring the act lest he accidently anger the demon child before replying.

"I wouldn't be a very good teacher if I let one of my students die. My pride as a shinobi of the Leaf wouldn't allow me to let a comrade die."

"Said the man who put a rasengan through my head." The boy no doubt understood that his godfather's words were a nod towards his own prideful behavior but he didn't allow his face to show it.

Names had once again started to flash across the screen as the pair arrived at team seven's designated spot. Strangely Naruto had stopped paying attention to the board. There was only a moment of confusion on Jiraiya's part before a strong wave of killing intent chased the feeling out of him.

Its source was Gaara of the desert, who was no doubt also angry that he'd prevented the gruesome conclusion of the last match. Small wisps of crimson light swirled around the boy as he stared at Jiraiya. He looked as though he was about to take a step in the man's direction but was suddenly rebuked by a wave of killing intent so strong that the air itself seemed to ripple.

The Sannin watched with a mixture of pride and fear as his godson moved between him and Gaara; shielding him from the other jinchuuriki. He was beyond happy that the boy was attached to him enough to defend him while he was injured, but at the same time he was very worried about what Naruto was about to do.

He'd never seen him like this before. The boy was mad. Mad beyond words. He could feel it in the way that ground trembled ever so slightly beneath them. He could see it in the red sparks that began leap from the boy's body. Naruto stood there calmly, quietly, and entirely livid as he stared down the Sand-nin.

The match below had concluded itself quickly. Tenten wasn't even paying attention to her fight and was soundly defeated by the blonde from Suna.

The next string of matches ended in a similar fashion. Shikamaru was paired against Lee. Lee's taijutsu was simply too fast for his shadows to keep up and boy found himself unconscious before he was able to devise a suitable plan.

Ino struggled only slightly in her fight against Kankuro until she realized that she was fighting the Sand-nin's puppet and not him. With a wide area auditory genjutsu she was able to disorient her opponent long enough for her to reach the real Kankuro on the puppet's back and put a kunai to his throat. He was quick to surrender after that.

The next match was over before it began. Kiba got unlucky enough to be paired against Tee. Against his better judgment, the boy had decided to fight the man anyway. In total the fight lasted less then a second and was concluded with the 'genin's' fist all but demolishing Kiba's face. The boy was wheeled out of the arena on a stretcher, not in any real danger of dying, but with several broken facial bones and more than a few swallowed teeth.

Then things got serious. All the normal combatants were out of the way. This meant that the last two fights were going to demon against demon slugfests. The tension in the air was palpable as the contestants stared at the names on the screen.

**Killer Bee vs. Nii Yugito**

Naruto's staring contest with his Suna counterpart was abruptly forgotten by the boy. A familiar mad grin stretched across the boy's face as he continued to stare at the words on the board. This would be a battle that these humans would all remember. The images and sounds of this conflict would be forever burned in their memories. The scars that his race would inflict upon the land today would never fade. Everlasting and eternal, they would serve as monuments to the power of the biju. And never again could his kind be ignored. After today, these humans would know their place.

"I forfeit."

Naruto's thoughts stopped dead in their tracks and his eyes went wide. A flickering single tail was beginning to form behind him as he looked on in disbelief at the Cloud kunoichi who was still raising her hand. His eyes then moved to Killer Bee, who was grinning like a mad man at the boy's reaction. Naruto's anger only intensified.

"What?" he whispered dangerously as the chakra tail continued to thrash behind him.

"I forfeit." She repeated in far more triumphant manner than her words should merit. "Bee would kick my ass. And I don't want to be a chunin anyway; too much paper work."

"Sorry for the let down." Bee apologized half-heartedly. His gaze was still firmly locked with Naruto's; goading him, taunting him. Laughing at him.

The final names appeared on the screen.

**Sabaku no Gaara vs. Uzumaki Naruto**

A cruel grin appeared on the Sand-nin's face as he looked at his opponent. This was the one who looked down on him. The one who had ignored him. He would prove his existence to this boy; prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that his being was the stronger one when he crushed the life from the other boy and consumed him in the desert sands. Mother would be so proud of him.

"Won't you mother?" He whispered before disappearing in a cloud of sand.

"Jiraiya. Today they will see that I am without equal." His godson's voice was like molten steel. There was so much anger and conviction in his words. "Do not interfere. I _will _kill you."

Naruto's form was swallowed by flash vermillion light and the blast of a thunderclap.

Both jinchuuriki reappeared on the arena floor. Hayate was about to give them spiel about not killing an opponent who'd given up but was cut off by the blonde jinchuuriki.

"Start the match or I will end you."

The proctor was only too happy to oblige the boy. "Begin!" he shouted before shunshining out of the way.

The stone buckled beneath him as Naruto closed the distance between him and Gaara with such speed that not even Jiraiya could track his movements. A cloud of sand moved to protect the awestruck Suna jinchuuriki but it was far to slow. Naruto reappeared for a split second as his fist slammed into the other boy's chest before again disappearing. Two more flickering images of Naruto appeared on either side of his opponent as he caught Gaara's head between a pair of vice-like kicks. The red head had no time to respond to the latest blows as a series of vicious uppercuts launched him into the air.

He knew that he was in trouble. His first line of defense, the sand shield, was completely useless against such blinding fast opponent and his sand armor was breaking like glass under the horrific strength of the blows. How could the other boy be so fast? Before now he'd never even been touched, now he was struggling to replace his armor quickly enough to soak up the next blow. His jade eyes snapped to the boy on the ground that had just finished weaving hand-seals.

"Fire release: Fire dragon missile jutsu!"

A sea of white flame erupted from the jinchuuriki's gaping jaws and streaked through the air towards Gaara. He roared in pain as the barrier of sand between him and the onrushing conflagration was reduced to molten glass, which clung to his body like napalm. Crimson chakra surged through his body and with a sweep of his hand the wall behind him disintegrated into sand and flew forward to dual with the flames.

Naruto was long gone by the time that the wave of lava reached the ground. Realization of this fact dawned on Gaara in the form of demon child's boot connecting violently with the base of his skull and once again he found himself rocketing through the air. The ground was rushing up to meet him fast, but he would have just enough time to turn floor to sand and cushion his landing. At least he would've been able to if Naruto hadn't chosen that exact moment to slam a kick into his head that seemed to come from three separate sides.

Gaara's vision spun wildly as he corkscrewed through the air. That last trio of blows had come dangerously close to crushing his skull into pulp, but he was still able to feel his opponent on the sand that he'd just made. His hand clenched into a fist.

"Desert vice."

The sand beneath Naruto's feet wrapped its way up his legs and yanked him down into the rapidly expanding pit so that only his head remained visible. Gaara landed in a cushion of sand with an insane grin splayed across his face. 'I want to see the light die from your eyes!'

"Desert guillotine." The edges of the pit became infused with wind chakra before scything forward. Naruto's head was sliced cleanly from his body in a spray of gore. Then he dissolved into smoke. Gaara's eyes searched wildly for his opponent before finding him on a wall some eighty feet above him.

As Naruto's hands came together in the final seal he noticed that his opponent had begun to quickly form seals of his own. "Wind release: Great maelstrom cannon jutsu!"

"Wind release: sandstorm entrenchment jutsu."

The curtain of razor-sharp blades and hurricane force winds crashed against the sand-user's barricade with a cacophonous bang that shook the foundations of the arena. Stone crumbled to dust under the force of the pressure wave and long clean gashes were notched into the walls. Gaara's barrier broke and without its protection the Suna jinchuuriki found himself pummeled into the floor. His Leaf village counterpart had apparently fared no better, having been launched about four hundred feet upward, in multiple pieces, by the air column that the two had generated. Gaara felt a pit of dread form in his stomach as the boy's mutilated body dissolved into smoke.

With so much sand in the air he could easily feel Naruto coming, the only problem was that both he and his sand couldn't move nearly fast enough to launch a retaliatory attack. He could do nothing else but replenish his defenses and wait for the pain to come while desperately trying to find an opening.

A resounding bang echoed through the air and Gaara's eyes went wide as he found himself taken off his feet and carried through the air by a large metal ball. He struck the wall hard enough that it made him cough up blood, and slowly he began to slide to the floor in a crumpled heap. Two more bangs followed and the boy howled in pain as the twin projectiles hammered into his chest, most likely breaking a few ribs in the process.

He was going to die here. That monster hiding in the dust was going to kill him. And he wasn't even going to look at him. His existence meant so little to the other boy that it wasn't worth the effort to watch him die. Gaara's blood roiled at that thought. 'Crush him.' A familiar voice whispered to him. 'Bathe in his blood.' His eyes glowed crimson and demonic energy began arc off of his body. The searing pain in his chest quieted to a dull ache as tendrils of sand began to lift him onto his feet.

Another bang reverberated off the walls signaling that a metal globe was inbound. Gaara's sand, now flashing with light as though it were made of million flaming rubies, leapt up and caught the ball before crushing it like a tin can.

"Is that all you have?" Gaara droned lazily to his opponent as sand began to rapidly accrue across his body. His sand armor took on an ethereal sheen as the sand continued to compress itself, now just bordering on the edge of becoming glass.

The blonde's answer was a bone crushing kick to the chest which had again sent Gaara skyward. Apparently inspired by Sasuke's actions, Naruto flashed into existence in front of his opponent and connected with a merciless barrage of kicks that appeared as little more than a blur. Gaara continued to sail upward as his armor rapidly started coming apart around him.

'How!? How can he be so powerful!?'

His anger took physical form in the shape of a single flaming tail.

'He will die before he hurts me again!'

Naruto allowed himself to plummet back to the ground as he formed hand-seals.

His godfather's eyes went wide as he saw the sequence of hand signs.

'Oh shit!'

"Down!" he screamed as he threw himself against the wall.

The jonin reacted to those words on instinct, grabbing their students and falling prone just as the jutsu went off.

"Wind release: cannonade doppelganger jutsu!"

Reality seemed to shatter as hundreds upon hundreds of supersonic projectiles cut through the sky towards Gaara. They impacted against the sand shield with earth shattering force, propelling the sand swathed genin through the celling on a curtain of metal. Naruto hit the ground, his eyes shining with psychotic glee as he formed a seal with his hands.

"Katsu!"

The explosion rocked the entire building as fire, earth, and melted slag poured like blood from a wound out of the chasm in the celling. Many jonin were forced to throw up earth jutsu to keep the entire structure from crashing down on them and hidden ANBU flooded the room to help with their efforts. Just as the last fires began to die out a furious roar was heard and Gaara came rocketing out of rubble towards Naruto.

The blonde jinchuuriki's look of surprise quickly morphed into a grin of wild excitement. Wind chakra in the sand to counter the wind chakra on his cannonades. He'd underestimated the little desert rat. Though he wasn't strong enough to pose a threat at the present, it looked as if the boy would grow into a fine monster. Someone worthy of the title 'tailed beast.' Someone worthy of his full power. He shuddered with pleasure at the thought.

Naruto moved to escape the jinchuuriki turned meteorite that was barreling down at him, but found that he couldn't. His legs had been locked in place by the crushing grip of the desert sand. He was about to form a clone and substitute with it but the sand in the air suddenly became as sharp as knives. It whipped itself into a furious vortex that turned his clone back into smoke. The desert abattoir then focused its power on Naruto, pealing the flesh from his bones in long gruesome streamers. He locked his crimson eyes with those of the other jinchuuriki and smiled.

"Kill me."

Gaara's right arm formed into a large drill-like protrusion which he plunged into Naruto's head. The appendage ran through the entire length of the boy's body. Anyone else in his position would be unmistakably dead, but Gaara took it upon himself to go one step further.

"Shukaku's talon!"

Spires of sand tore their way out of the blond's motionless body from every direction. The tendrils then doubled back and hooked around his limbs and torso; mummifying the boy. With a loud crunch and a deluge of blood, the sand crushed Naruto into jelly.

For a long time nothing happened. The spectators stood motionless, stunned by the prospect that the demon of Konoha might actually be dead. It was common knowledge for most jonin that Naruto was able to survive decapitation and bisection, but could he really survive when his entire body was a ruined husk? Their attention was drawn by the sing song voice of Killer Bee.

"Nine-tails down? Man don't play a clown. For him that's a love tap…" Light flashed behind his glasses. "Now here comes his bitch-slap."

Gaara fell to his knees, exhausted after using so much chakra. He had done it though. The blond was dead. Everyone would know of his existence. As he got to his feet he felt a twinge of fear run down his spine. That was odd. Try as he might, he was unable to ignore the prickling sensation that had his hairs standing on end. In fact it only seemed to grow stronger.

Red chakra began to arc off of the pool of blood in front of him. Gaara's eyes went wide with terror as the scarlet liquid began to ripple and writhe. Cruel laughter filled the air and seemed to echo from all sides as the blood took the rough form of a human. It ignited in a spectacular display of oily garnet flames. Bone began to rapidly form followed shortly by muscle and then skin.

A naked five-tailed Naruto touched down on the ground, roaring with laughter as he looked at the trembling form of Gaara.

"**Excellent. Excellent! You truly are monster worthy of my fangs Sabaku no Gaara." **His hands came together in a window shaped seal. "**Allow me to show you how monstrous I can be!"**

An array of complex seals flickered to life on the backs of the boy's palms as he fell into a trance-like state. "**Releasing demonic seal: restriction systems three, two…one.**" The entire room seemed to noticeably darken. "**Approval of situation A has been recognized; invoking the rite of nine tails. Demonic chakra restraints have been lifted for limited use, until my enemy has been rendered silent.**"

A pillar of lurid obsidian flame exploded from jinchuuriki's form, swallowing all light in the room. Sinister crimson lightning snaked hungrily up the length of the hellish beacon; lashing out at odd intervals in its quest to sow destruction and misery. The air began to bleed. Rivulets of scarlet liquid rained down from the sky, evaporating when they struck the ground into thick carpet of eerie red fog. Naruto stepped out of the misty sanguine mire toward the hyperventilating Gaara.

"**You have…"** Wreathed in shadow and flame, he let his _seven_ blazing tails strike the ground with decisive crack that kicked up a spray of magma. "**No future.**"

Gaara spun around and ran; ran through the darkness as though the devil himself was chasing him. It was probably closer to the truth then he was willing to admit. A bang sounded from behind him. His sand didn't even slow the projectile down. It bit into his leg with such force that the appendage dissolved at the point of impact and the jinchuuriki was tossed to ground screaming pain. He tried to crawl away but another thunderous crack robbed him of his left arm in a torrent of gore. The darkness, laced with killing intent so strong it had him in tears, pressed down from all directions.

"**What are you doing!?**" demanded the bellowing voice of the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki. "**Attack me! Summon your demon! Transform your body!" **He reached down and picked up the heap of ruined flesh that used to be Gaara's leg. "**Heal your severed limbs and stand!" **He took a large bite out piece of meat that he held and swallowed it.** "Our glorious battle has only just begun! Hurry! Hurry! Kill me! Hurry!**"

"Monster! Mother! Please! Save me from the monster!"

Naruto stopped dead. After a few seconds his eyes went wide in a mixture of disgust and fury.

"**You… You're pathetic! Nothing more than a sniveling lump of meat! To call yourself a member of my great and powerful race is the most egregious insult that I can possibly imagine.**" Naruto held out his hand. His seven tails focused the storm of chakra that blossomed in his palm until he was left holding a sphere of utter darkness. "**I would devour your flesh, desert rat, but you are not worthy of becoming my shit. Fade from this earth; I will destroy you so completely that not even your memory will remain.**"

Gaara's screams were drowned out beneath the explosion of chakra. "**Nanabi rasengan!**"

XXXXXXXX

Jiraiya and the rest of the spectators had fled the tower via the Toad Sannin's summons as soon as Naruto had released that pillar of chakra. They now watched as the forest of death was enveloped by a light so bright that its ferocity seemed to rival the sun. The brilliant ocean of pearl flame pitched and seethed as it consumed the land, undoing in an instant what had taken hundreds of years to create. He could hear the girl from Suna crying against her brother's shoulder as she mourned the loss of her other sibling.

Ino leaned against him. "A-are…are Sasuke and Kiba and that Hyuuga boy okay?"

Jiraiya put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly. The medics moved quickly so the chances were good that with the time that had passed since their matches they were able to escape. But he couldn't bring himself to lie to her.

"I don't know Ino. I hope so."

The girl began to cry. Above them, storm clouds had formed from the heat of the explosion. Rain fell from the heavens; the land wept for the fallen as well.

XXXXXXXX

The Mizukage looked up from his paperwork. He got up from his desk and stepped out on to the balcony of the Kage tower. Smoke was rising from Konoha. That seemed to happening quite a lot these days.

'Such a sinister chakra. Just like that time in Wave…'

He returned inside and placed his hat and robes in their proper place before leaning his head out the door.

"Yukari."

His secretary looked up. "Yes Mizukage-sama?"

"Do you remember where I placed my good hook?"

She sighed. "It's where you always put it Mizukage-sama, on the rack to the left of your desk." How could someone so scatterbrained become the head of a ninja village?

"Right! Of course it is. I was just testing you."

"I understand Mizukage-sama."

She heard a rustling from inside the office followed by a clatter of metal and cursing.

"I'm going for a walk Yukari. Tell Mei to catch up with me when she arrives."

Yukari flinched. When the Mizukage went for a walk bad things had a tendency to happen.

"Where should I tell her that you've gone?"

The sound of the balcony door sliding open reached her ears.

"Konoha. One of their ninja saved me quite a bit of trouble recently. He also happens to be a close personal friend…sort of. He knows a guy who knows a guy. Anyway I get the feeling that he's gotten himself into a bit of trouble. Gonna see if I can't go and get him out of it."

With a rustle of fabric the Mizukage was gone.


End file.
